okay...so this is politically awkward!
Well this rant might as well paint racist/bigot across my forehead. But I am actually no where near that.If you are reading this, you understand me, I am neither a racist, sexist or bigot. I am actually a peace-nic, my religious beliefs are foggy, yet I believe in God, Allah, Jesus and Buddah. I have no beliefs, and yet I have so many. Christianity is flawed, Judaism, Islam, Shinto and many others are as well, Muslim faith is often misconstrued, yet all on their own or mixed together form the basis for most religious foundations.
There are more I know, but that’s not what this is about. Being white, black, brown, purple or green isn’t of concern to me at all.
John Lennon, that damned Communist, is an icon to me, and one day the world will give peace a chance.
Today,however, I was angered. Angered by a billboard, angered by an article in the paper, and then just angered. The ad was for Jewishpages.ca, a telephone/business directory dedicated (but not exclusive) to people of the Jewish faith. This brought to mind an interview on ChumFm’s “In Toronto” a 1980’s radio news program in which Paul Cross, then interviewer, talked with Millicent Redway, co-founder of Toronto’s Black Pages, a directory that promoted “black businesses” in Toronto. I remember the hair sticking up on my back at this interview, and being close to the situation, I know Paul’s was as well.
The joke of the argument is that there is already a White Pages, why shouldn't there be a Black Pages. Of course the White pages is in reference to the colour of paper it’s printed on, as are the Yellow Pages, not anything to do with the content.
I don’t understand in this day and age, as people still hear shouts of racism, how this is acceptable. Aren’t Jewishpages.ca or the Black Pages exclusionary, racist or bigoted? I know in Canada, if I wanted to start a club that catered to “whites”, “wasps” or “Catholics” I would have a VERY difficult time getting anything off the ground.
Some will argue that Churches, Mosques and Synagogues are exclusionary, but in reality they aren’t. Firstly, I don’t believe that any religion sees colour. Secondly, any and all religions that I know see themselves as open to the public and welcoming with open arms to all comers.
I haven’t spent any time investigating the Jewish pages or Black Pages, but will assume that anyone can advertise in their guides, just by paying the standard fee. That’s part of my point quashed, but the main point is still there: Are we not creating divisions and barriers by allowing these papers to exist?
Again, I know that anyone can join, but what is the purpose of these papers? I would assume that it’s to provide a resource for people to do business transactions amongst people of their own ilk.
We’ve already gone down this path in North America with something called slavery.
That didn’t turn out so well either.
The fundamental backbone of Capitalism is free trade; the ability and encouragement of people to do business with others freely and openly. Maybe it’s because I am a white person living in a white man’s world (for which I completely disagree with this statement) but are we not openly trying to close our minds and businesses to outsiders by creating these directories?
By no means would I advocate anyone to advertise in the White or Yellow Pages (Does anyone use them anymore?), but I think that by naming anything that has anything to do with race, colour or creed you are attempting to exclude others. Something that I was brought up to understand is racism and or bigotry.
Rant part two – The government is looking into its own hiring practices. Apparently the government hires only minorities and as these are tax-payer paid positions, maybe that’s a bad thing?
This was a policy they put in place years and years ago when it was found that government, police, fire and ambulance were slapped with allegations of bad hiring practices.
The problem was rectified inside of a year, yet the rules were never changed to a more equitable stance.
Here’s my beef; If I hire based on the colour of a person’s skin, I am fired, the company is fined and likely I am publically stoned to death.
When the government does it? It’s possible that this is a bad hiring practice. Hopefully the government is recruiting from the Jewish Black Pages….That would give them a two-birds-one-stone success story I suppose.
posted by G.M. Shier @ Friday, July 23, 2010
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