I want to talk about race as a factor in the 2019 canadian federal election
for those of you who know, you're aware that every candidate has been caught up in political discourse involving race
for those of you who don't know, justin trudeau did blackface and brownface (three times at least), andrew scheer has known ties to white nationalists, maxime bernier is racist in every imaginable way, elizabeth may has defended members of her party who did brownface and blackface,
and of course, jagmeet singh is a person of colour.
so why are so many canadians more willing to vote for one of four varying levels of racist white candidates than a man of colour?
it tends to come down to three reasons:
2. people are refusing to acknowledge the racism of candidates they like (which is really a subsection of the first reason)
3. people don't believe canada is ready for a prime minister of colour
since I spend a solid chunk of every day of my life arguing about the first two reasons, right now I'd like to focus on the third.
isn't it convenient that the same people who boast about our superiority to the states are the ones who say we're not ready for a prime minister of colour?
interesting that we're supposedly "so much better", and yet can't do what america has already done? (elect a person of colour as leader of the country)
and it certainly is misleading when white people claim that the USA electing a black man led to the later election of trump. remember that obama served two consecutive terms. he was popular enough not only to be elected, but to be re-elected
I may have been fairly young when barack obama was first elected, but I remember people saying that the states weren't ready for a leader of colour
but then, enough people set aside that doubt and elected one
my point is that saying "I'll vote for a white person who does racist shit because canada is not ready for a brown prime minister" is a cop out
the more people use this cop out to avoid voting for a brown man, the less votes he gets, the more true your statement is. it's a self-fulfilling prophecy.
it is backwards and frankly incorrect to claim that we are not ready for a brown prime minister. everytime you say that, you set us further back from that ever happening
and rest assured, you're harming more than just the upcoming election.
imagine you're twelve, brown, and interested in going into politics. all around you, people are saying "we're not ready for a brown prime minister."
you feel discouraged, find another dream, and the political world loses the insight of another person of colour
this attitude that canada cannot elect a brown man will set us back for generations, unless we address it's unfoundedness and racism