Beauty of diversity or boiling adversary?
DARN July 2020 Issue
Folks happy Canada Day! Please, keep your mask on and distance!
Canada . . .
Afar, the beauty of diversity!
Up close, a boiling adversary?
June 6, 2020 Anti-Racism rally at the Olympic Plaza Calgary.
Ymor
Weather, perfect! Mask fitted. Bottled water sealed, Running shoes comfy. Hat well adjusted. Crackers secured. ID ready. Cell phone charged. Sunglasses cleaned. CT Train tickets in the pocket. Exit plan memorized. Words to chant— just follow the crowd.
My daughter and I reached Olympic plaza and it was packed with people already. The rally was a vigil for George Floyd who was killed in the US of A weeks earlier.
People’s passion for change and justice was intense. Tens of thousands chanted with vigor and clarity. No justice no peace, and black lives matter chanting filled the plaza.
Speaker after speaker aroused the feeling and resolve of the protesters. Systemic racism denounced and police brutality condemned.
As I stood right at the back of the stage my mind flew back 34 years ago in the Philippines. People clamored to end poverty, cronyism, and political oppression. The Edsa People Power Revolution opened my eyes to what people can do collectively.
The Calgarians rally in front of me was bit different. It spoke volume on the menace, cruelty and curse of systemic racism.
I believe the message was sent with clarity.
The rally ended with a positive note. Once again Calgarians exhibited a dignified, orderly and powerful display of protest. Powerful enough to awaken the very root and foundation of systemic racism in this part of the country.
On our way back home my daughter and I had a healthy and insightful talk about our experience. Got off the train and went straight into the car, opened the crackers, hat’s off and relieved.
In retrospect, protest rally and election are the two forces and avenues that can change society.
How to argue with a racist: Five myths debunked
March 16, 2020 BBC
Stereotypes and myths about race abound, but this does not make them true. Often, these are not even expressed by overt racists.
For many well-intentioned people, experience and cultural history has steered them towards views that aren't supported by human genetics. For example: the assumption that East Asian students are inherently better at math, black people have natural rhythm, or Jews are good with money. Many of us know someone who thinks along these lines.
Dr Adam Rutherford, a geneticist and BBC presenter, says "Racism is being expressed in public more openly today than at any time I can recall, and it's our duty to contest it with facts."
Here's how to debunk five racist myths with science and facts.
MYTH 1: The DNA of white and black people is completely different (last issue)
MYTH 2: There is such a thing as 'racial purity'
FACT: "Racial purity is pure fantasy"
We think of certain areas, lands or peoples as being isolated - either physically or culturally - and these boundaries as being insurmountable.
But this is neither what history, nor genetics, tell us. In fact, no nation is static.
"People have moved around the world throughout history, and had sex whenever and wherever they could," says Dr Rutherford.
Sometimes these are big moves in short times.
More often, people are largely static over a few generations - and that can feel like a geographical and cultural anchor.
"Nevertheless, every Nazi has Jewish ancestors" says Dr Rutherford, "Every white supremacist has Middle Eastern ancestors. Every racist has African, Indian, East Asian ancestors, as well as everyone else” DAS photos
"Racial purity is pure fantasy. For humans, there are no pure bloods. Only mongrels enriched by the blood of multitudes," he says.
News:
Colgate reviews China's Darlie brand amid race debate June 19, 2020 BBC News
Quaker Oats Retiring Aunt Jemima Brand, Acknowledging Racial Stereotypes. June 17 2020 USNews
Mortality rate with Covid-19 three times higher for black males compared with white males, according to ONS findings on ethnicity. June 19, 2020 Independent
Studies
Trump rally in Tulsa, a day after Juneteenth, awakens memories of 1921 racist massacre. June 19, 2020 Russell Cobb Associate Professor of Latin American Studies, University of Alberta
Black Lives Matter: you may be a vocal supporter and still hold racist views. June 17, 2020 Geoff Beattie Professor of Psychology, Edge Hill University
We’ve been facing a pandemic of racism. How can we stop it? June 16, 2020 Vissia Ita Yulianto Universitas Gadjah Mada
If you encounter racism please contact:
(403) 297-6571 (Alberta Human Rights Commission)
Acknowledgment: This e-newsletter is made possible by the
AB Government Anti-Racism Grant
Published by: Diaryo Alberta Society | 587 973 7191 / 403 816 7983
diaryoalbertasociety@gmail.com
To subscribe (free) digital edition of Diaryo Alberta Newspaper,
ALLBertans Magazine and DARN go to www.diaryoalbertasociety.com
Back issues of Diaryo Alberta available at ISSUU/Diaryo Alberta.
Photos by DAS