“I Stand With Trudeau”, is the Rallying Cry of the Moderate
In response to two days of a trending hashtag, by Liberals applauding Justin Trudeau, I can’t help but think of Martin Luther King’s biting criticism for white moderates, in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail, where he said:
"First, I must confess that over the last few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Council-er or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice…”
As someone who cares more about ACTIONS and POLICY over performance, looking back on Trudeau’s track record on policy (you know, the stuff that actually changes the material conditions of our lives?), as we approach election 44, I am unmoved by his gestures such as kneeling at Black Lives Matter, or correctly pointing out xenophobia displayed in politicians like Yves Blanchet’s coded language, for a few reasons.
First, Liberal supporters ignore that Justin Trudeau voted for S-7, also known as Stephen Harper’s Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Act. This controversial bill led to the infamous, “Barbaric Cultural Practices Tip-line”, and his support for it directly contradicts his disapproval for the Islamophobia he is calling out.
Liberals also excuse Trudeau’s selling of arms to Saudi Arabia, that aid in the killing of Yemeni people. Justin Trudeau has increased arms sales in HIS renegotiated weapons contract beyond what Stephen Harper had sold. Liberals will ignore how we can give the banks $750 Billion in liquidity supports, effectively creating money into existence. Then they will defend Trudeau’s arms deal, by blaming Harper, saying our hands are tied because it would cost $1 Billion to rescind this blood-contract.
In other foreign policy matters, Canada’s human rights abuses in our mining sector abroad and our support for christo-fascist regimes in coup attempts against Indigenous leaders and their Indigenous supporters in countries like Bolivia, also doesn’t seem to bother Liberals.
Domestically, Liberals have excused in the last election, Justin Trudeau’s multiple instances of minstrelesque, Brown and Blackface. Now… look, this is something by itself, that I can forgive being in the past; however, combined with all of the other instances of racism it is part of a pattern. The evidence that there is a clear lack of antiracism and allyship on behalf of the Liberal party, and Trudeau, is piling up.
“I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can't agree with your methods of direct action;" who paternalistically feels he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by the myth of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait until a "more convenient season."
Liberals also ignore that we do not track poverty on reserves where it is some of the highest in Canada, so the claims of lifting children out of poverty last election did not actually include First Nations children. They defend the taking of First Nations children to court to appeal an award from the Ontario Human Rights Commission. Liberals brush off the failure to meet 2015 promises to deliver clean drinking water to reserves as pipelines for oil move ahead. Liberals made excuses as Trudeau said, “thank you for your donation” to Indigenous protestors, demanding action on the promise to build a rehabilitation facility for Mercury Poisoning victims in Grassy Narrows.
Liberals were also silent when Trudeau’s cabinet, this past winter, voted against a motion to respect the rights of Mi’kmaq to fish when they were being harassed by white supremacists for exercising their treaty rights. Finally, Liberals have also ignored the 3 failing grades that the Liberals have gotten on the MMIWG report, or that First Nations had turned to the UN for help on this.
When it comes to criminal reforms, Liberals let slide Justin Trudeau’s broken promises to eliminate Stephen Harper’s mandatory minimum jail sentences, which impacts Indigenous and Black Canadians who are overrepresented and overpoliced in Canada. And they also ignored when the Liberals passed amendments under Bill C-75 that eliminates due process, and that the Canadian Bar Association and Canadian Civil Liberties Association both said were not evidence based and systemically discriminate against Indigenous Canadians and visible minorities. Further confounding systemic racism in our justice system.
Liberals ignore that our Public Safety Minister, Bill Blair, as Chief of TPS, systematically discriminated against Black and Brown boys, violating their Charter Rights by racially targeting and carding them in the City of Toronto. And they ignore that Black people were 20 times more likely to be shot and 5 times more likely to be tased by the TPS, according to Dr. Wortley’s findings in the Ontario Human Rights Commission’s report on SIU cases involving the TPS. Or how farcical and egregious it is that someone like Bill Blair, with this kind of track record is charged with overseeing systemic racism in the RCMP in Canada!
BUT when Trudeau does something performative that doesn’t actually do anything to improve systemic racism in Canada or advance the lives of Indigenous, Black or other visible minorities in Canada, such as kneeling at BLM or taking issue with Yves Blanchet’s coded language (meanwhile supporting discriminatory legislation), or substituting representation for policy, they DO NOT IGNORE THAT.
They will tweet an “IStandWithTrudeau” hashtag, on Twitter for two days, which is more time and attention they give to holding Trudeau accountable for actually addressing these problems instead of contributing to them.
It’s tone-deaf and frustrating to watch year after year, election after election. To close, I leave you with the words of MLK, who also said:
“Shallow understanding from people of goodwill is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection."
Which says it perfectly.
@allthecanadianpolitics
