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Let's talk about some ways anti-Blackness manifests in Canada, shall we? 1/
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Yesterday's legal observer (LO) assignment was at the Parents of Black Children press conference in response to the deluge of anti-anti-racist statements and pushes in the wake of the suicide of #RichardBilkszto (click the hashtag for more/older info).
The coverage from the conference includes:
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A coalition of Black community organizations is calling on the province to reaffirm its commitment to anti-racism training in education and publicly denounce “attempts to undermine or halt these efforts” in the wake of the suicide of a former principal who claimed he was bullied during an anti-racism training session two years ago.
“There is an active campaign to villainize and undermine anti-racism work in this province,” said Idris Orughu, one of the speakers at Wednesday’s event at Queen’s Park, organized by more than a dozen Black community groups from across the GTA.
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https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/black-community-groups-say-tdsb-principal-s-suicide-is-being-used-to-villainize-and-undermine/article_744ad4b7-e325-5b1a-a7c6-717b69f7c330.html
(or https://archive.is/hB638 archived Toronto Star article in case a paywall goes up);
Context from a CTV News piece:
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Richard Bilkszto, who worked on contract with the TDSB after his retirement in 2019, filed a lawsuit against the board in April, claiming that an anti-racism training session in 2021 and its aftermath destroyed his reputation.
Bilkszto claimed supervisors did not intervene and later retaliated against him when trainer Kike Ojo-Thompson allegedly implied he was racist and humiliated him in front of colleagues after he disagreed that Canada was more racist than the U.S.
A lawyer for Bilkszto said her client died by suicide in July.
"It is clear to us, that his death has been used as a rallying point for right-wing opponents to dismantle the necessary and imperative anti-racism work," community leader Idris Orughu said outside the legislature Wednesday.
Orughu called any attempts to link death to anti-racism education are "immoral and unethical".
None of the allegations in Bilkszto's suit have been proven in court.
The TDSB has hired a third party investigator to look into the circumstances around Bilkszto's death.
❞ https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/anti-racism-diversity-training-under-threat-say-black-community-leaders-at-queen-s-park-rally-1.6504500 (or https://archive.is/OYOfc of it doesn't work)
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2/
Now, I actively chose to coordinate at this one because I had been watching the shitshow unfold since the beginning.
I am very interested in the subject, have been extremely public about said interest, and am very public about my involvement with the Movement Defence Committee of the Law Union of Ontario.
In short, it was a pretty safe bet that my Black ass would be at this action.
Enter #CarymaNgo's cameraspouse, SIXTEEN MINUTES into the hour-long press conference, utterly unconcerned with what is taking place. He scoots up the center path,, sees me [ image 1 ], and hangs a right.
He goes down the path to the legislative buildings driveway, circles behind the group holding the press conference [ image 2 ], and this is in the next toot, because I can't attach video and photos to one post...
3/
Slight recap:
#CreepySpouseInDaHouse came up the centre path, turned right, went the long way around the park paths, up the driveway, behind the group, pauses for a moment and, films well — you be the judge of how long he films of the actual conference, and then returns to focussing on me.
Contrast this video evidence with #CarymaNgo's claim that #NadsMcKneely was there to film the conference, but I "profiled" him (AND note the use of "profile" in a way that dilutes the impact of instances like when police actually profile racialized groups) so he was not able to accomplish his goal.
Does it ring at all true to you?
For the record, I did not film him as he scooted behind the cars, and I cut out a couple more seconds because this thing will only let me upload 40 megabytes of video and, frankly, watching him scoot is really not all that exciting.
@Gigi Is there no law about scooting while filming? Distracted operation of a motorized vehicle?
And deprive me of the inevitable hilarity when he drives *smack* into something solid while filming me?!
Nooooo!
@lightlysaltd
I hope it's one of those big cement garbage cans and he pitches right in.
Putting the trash where it belongs.
@lightlysaltd@kolektiva.social@Gigi I'm surprised he hasn't run anyone over yet. On foot he's already knocked a few people over trying to get "the shot"