DAY of CONVICTION
After years of informally expressing a certain strong conviction, a group of heads of large American companies, all manufacturers of a certain product, came together before a committee of the US Congress. As the world watched, these men asserted that conviction formally and officially, each intoning a ringing phrase beginning with the words: "I do not believe that...."
It was a glorious day for the principle of standing up for one's beliefs.
Recently, certain prominent Albertans have informally expressed a strongly held conviction of their own. They evidently believe there is nothing either dishonest or bigoted about literature of the following kind: literature which consistently talks as if only members of one biological category of persons commit a certain evil. Some of them have expressed this conviction directly; others have done so by publicly maligning those who have opposed certain literature of that kind.
The names of some of these prominent persons are listed below. They are currently being asked if they are willing to make their convictions firmly official, by signing the following declarations about a specific example of the type of literature in question, one "Document R":
"I believe that Document R, a word-for-word racial-violence paraphrase of The Family Centre's former family-violence brochure, sends NO negative message about people of color."
"I believe that Document R, if seriously meant and publicly circulated, would lead to NO injustices or harms to any individual persons of color."
Alternatively, they are asked instead to endorse the following statement:
"I believe that The Family Centre's former brochure on family violence, just like the word-for-word racial-violence paraphrase of it labeled "Document R", sends the message that only members of one biological group of human beings commit a certain evil. I believe that the two messages--the one about interracial violence, the other about family violence--constitute false negative stereotyping, and that promoting either of them is morally wrong.
Those being asked to formally stand up for, or else to reject, the above claims include:
Jolie Whetzel, Director, The Family Centre
Rod Rode, Executive Director, The Family Centre
Karen Nielson, The Family Centre
Susan Ruttan, Editorial Board, The Edmonton Journal
Liane Faulder, Columnist, The Edmonton Journal
Leslie Tutty, Professor, The University of Calgary
Jason Montgomery, Retired Professor, The University of Alberta
Leslie Primeau, Talk-show Host, CHED Radio
Asking for the above to formally take a stand are the following members of visible minorities:
Abdulahi Mahamad
Tom George
Edwin Aryee
Rick Ramjohn
Joseph Mpagi
Each of us has personally experienced more discrimination as a man than as a person of color in Canada. These days, most realize the inherent evil of, and the societal harms caused by, racist stereotyping. Consequently, few would be willing to publicly endorse Document R. But many still hold bigoted attitudes toward men as a group. This challenge is an attempt to raise their awareness by making them face that contradiction. If they have any decency, they will change.
Stay tuned for reports on responses to this request.