The Unfairness of it All

Huston, Texas got walloped by one heck of a storm. Not only were there winds strong enough to rip roofs off of houses, but it rained and rained - in some areas over 1.25 metres of water fell. There has been wide spread destruction of property, thousands have been left homeless for the foreseeable future and at least  20 people have died as a direct result of Hurricane Harvey. Without any doubt the effects of the hurricane on the residents of Huston has been devastating. If the USA's response to Hurricane Katrina is any example - it may be a generation before some of the damages are repaired. For some, their lives may be shattered forever. BUT the USA has the capacity to assist Huston and its residents to recover. If the politicians, the bureaucrats and the voting public choose to - the full resources of the American Armed Forces, of the various  emergency organizations and numerous not-for-profit organization could both significantly ease the suffering of individuals and contribute to the quick rebuilding of the city's infrastructure. The United States has the capacity to do it all - quickly and without a lot of outside help. They could also do much to prevent future crisis by ensuring that the drainage systems were functional and had the capacity to deal with extraordinary amounts of rain and that developers were not allowed to build housing on swamps or flood plains.

But the good people of Huston are not the only ones who have experienced too much rain. In Bangladesh - 7.1 million people, in Nepal approximately 1.5 million and in India nearly 14 million have been affected by flooding (Red Cross). The death toll in these countries may be in the thousands. The sad fact is that these countries are far less able to, in the short term, provide relief to the victims of the flooding. They are even less able to develop the kinds of long term strategies that will ensure less flooding in the future. There seems to be some sort of cosmic rule that natural disasters are worse and therefore have a far greater impact upon those countries who have the least capacity to deal with them. It also seems to be the rule that if we cannot relate to the people affected by the disaster, our capacity to care is reduced.

I perhaps should not be surprised that there is so little news as to what is happening in India, Nepal or Bangladesh. On CBC's website this morning ,there were seven stories about Huston - there were none about Bangladesh. I understand the USA are our neighbours and that it is natural for us to be more concerned about them than people who live nearly halfway around the world. I also understand that it is easier to relate to the suffering of people whose lives somewhat resemble ours. But it would seem to me that the news media have some responsibility to at least present to us the stories from other parts of the world - I may chose to not read that story - but at least give me the chance to make that choice.

Whether we like it or not we live a global world. No longer are we isolated by oceans that cannot be crossed safely, no longer can we remain ignorant as to what is happening to millions and millions of people. People keep on saying that we are all connected, that the internet allows us to share information, stories about people's lives that make us feel as if we are all part of the same human family. Someone needs to start telling more of those stories  and a lot more loudly. Our brothers and sisters in India, Nepal or Bangladesh need our assistance and if you are so inclined - our prayers.

The Hiding of Canada's History (part two)

Not withstanding the absurdity of a teacher asking a board of education to change a school's name  (CBC Globe), one has to wonder why the teacher's federation decided to focus on this issue as opposed to the myriad of other issues that need to be addressed within our educational system. If the teachers were truly committed to dealing with Canada's long and sordid history of being a country that based and continues to base some its policies on racism, there were numerous other resolutions that could have been far more useful and perhaps even implementable.  In fact, their resolution seems to have far more to do with being politically correct - without having to invest any real energy or resources into dealing with the issues; it feels as if a bunch of elites (they have well paying union jobs, all have a university education and I would bet that the majority of them are of European descent) passed a motion that makes them feel as if they have done something - and then as usual, expect someone else to do the work.

They could have, for example:

- passed a resolution stating that in their next contract negotiations their top priority would be for the government to more adequately fund and support the education of Indigenous youth in their home communities.

- or passed a resolution to demand (again as their top priority) that Indigenous youth in urban areas receive have access to educational programs that both reflect their cultural heritage and that prepare those youth for the 21st century.

- suggested that all such federations across the country review their teaching practice and curriculums to ensure that when the history, the economics or the politics of this country are being discussed that there is the opportunity for all students to recognize that some of the decisions that have been were destructive to whole groups of people - most of whom were already disadvantaged. 

The list of what they could have done goes on and on and on.

If in fact the teachers' federation wanted to initiate a conversation about how we name our public buildings, and if they wanted to do so out of genuine concern for the oppressed peoples of Canada (as opposed to some knee-jerk reaction to what is happening in the USA), that is wonderful. There is a long list of building and places names after people who said or did things that were clearly racist. Let us change the name of the Nellie McClung library branch in Victoria because she certainly was a racist (as well as someone who supported the concept that people who were deemed to be sub-standard, should not be allowed to have children).

My grandchildren have gone to an elementary school called Churchill - perhaps because it is on a street called Churchill - named after Winston Churchill, the revered leader of Britain during WW2. Churchill  deeply believed that Europeans were destined to rule the world - he was clearly a racist (Guardian). Should the name of that school be changed? How far do we go in being politically correct?

It is clear that the teachers' federation did not think through this motion. The teacher behind the motion, when asked about deleting Prime Minister  Sir Wilfred Laurier's name from any school building because  of his role in the banning of Chinese immigrants during his tenure suggested that the teachers were only concerned with injustices of  First Nation peoples. It would seem that if we are truly going to finally accept the reality of racism in Canada, that while we recognize as a priority the gross injustices done to our First Nation communities - we as well need to identify and address all racism. To suggest that people from different cultures/races are less important than others sounds like racism.

The teachers' federations motion was at best a noble, but empty gesture. It may have done more damage than good if only because it is easier to talk about ancient names and what they may or may not have done than it is to address what we are doing or not doing today.