Premier Dalton McGuinty needs our help. Last week, according to the Star’s Robert Benzie, McGuinty asked that Torontonians pressure “school board trustees into over-turning a controversial decision to create a black-focused school.” McGuinty needs us to tell trustees how strongly “opposed to this proposal” we are.

How strongly opposed are we, though? Should we at all oppose school board trustees opening Africentric schools? Should we pressure the trustees to cease and desist -- or should we demand Dalton McGuinty back right off, cease interfering and desist tormenting trustees? That he better mind his own business and just let trustees perform their jobs? Fraught questions. Answering hinges pretty much entirely on whether or not trustees are instigating segregation in Toronto, Canada.

For sure trustees should help students stay in school. But any free, democratic, tolerant and multicultural society absolutely must resist segregation. Especially here in Toronto, Canada -- arguably the world’s best model city when it comes to tolerant multiculture.

One young man, speaking passionately at the trustees’ meeting, demanded that media stop lying. His argument: why does media keep broadcasting trustees are instigating segregation -- when any and all students will be welcomed to attend Africentric schools? He concluded, in strongest terms, by exhorting media to disclose how indiscriminately welcoming Africentric schools shall be to absolutely everyone.

Quite right. While there’s no telling the complete truth -- too many molecules in the universe -- not disclosing Africentric schools’ wide open doors policy is more like not mentioning all those proverbial babies in the bath-water. Selling extra sensational many papers can’t forgive such misleading reporting.

Wide open doors must be mentioned. However. Opening doors more widely hampers covert discrimination -- not overt broad-daylight segregation. Seating on buses never got de-segregated by widening passenger doors. Not once nor ever. However crucial to averting discrimination, indiscriminate accessibility provides no answer to questions of broad-daylight segregation.

Whereas discrimination hides its face in public, segregation carries banners and sings anthems in the streets. Segregation isn't shy. Segregation isn't bashful. It turns like rabid mobs against us throughout all public spaces. Better access? Not remotely called for. In event of segregation, best try getting away. Far away.

Yet, back at the trustees’ meeting, many repeatedly ridiculed segregation as any relevant legitimate concern whatsoever. An older fellow asked to know what the big deal was, anyhow. Since he’d had such great trouble finding white faces when traveling to parts of Toronto he himself considered less desireable. Toronto demographics have long-since become thoroughly racially segregated -- so why pick so particularly on race-based schooling? Must be some sort of racist witch-hunt -- such over-reacting to a little race-based schooling designed in students’ best interests. For students’ own good.

Many ridiculed segregation as any legitimate concern -- and they weren’t joking, either. Which, coming from even some trustees of our schools, is particularly frightening. We ought to know by now how communities seek to self-segregate for internal cultural homogeneity. Not against but certainly away from wider multiculture. Yet regardless how (...read more...)