TIME FOR COLUMNIST TO EMBRACE ‘MUDDY MIDDLE’

I recently read David Delaney's perspective on racism and systemic racism with regards to the lobster fishery dispute on the South Shore (Nov. 30, Cape Breton Post) and I feel it requires a response.

First off, I find Mr. Delaney's first statement, which is that race is not involved in this dispute, very hard to understand. I'm sure, like most of the country, Mr. Delaney has seen the videos taken of large mobs of fishermen during this dispute, and heard what they had to say.

I'm somewhat baffled as to how he manages to ignore this clear, unambiguous evidence of racism captured on video, in the fishermen's own words. This was an international embarrassment to our province, but perhaps Mr. Delaney was unaware of these events before reaching his conclusions? I'd hate to think ideology blinded Mr. Delaney from obvious facts.

We also have the sad example of the former head of the Maritime Fishermen's Union Local 9. This man quit his position mid-crisis due to the toll threats were taking on his family. Why was he threatened? Because he agreed to speak with Sipekne'katik First Nation reelects Chief Mike Sack on the issue.

I'd be curious why Mr. Delaney thinks the act of speaking to the chief would be so controversial? The unions have had similar disputes with much larger groups such as Clearwater in the past. Why is this one in particular so heated and emotional?

Finally, Mr. Delaney's perspectives on systemic racism suggest he doesn't fully understand what the term means, and while I hope I'm mistaken it suggests once again an opinion formed more by ideology than fact.

Mr. Delaney appears to think that you just need to out the racists in the system to end systemic racism, which is, of course rather, silly. Systemic racism isn't caused by individual racists. It refers to social and economic systems that disadvantage minorities, often unintentionally.

We can't just redefine terms to make arguments easier.

In fact, far from causing these issues, the people within the system are often working to solve them. Teachers, for example, have been at the forefront of reforming our education system. Lawyers and politicians from all political backgrounds have tackled the legal system's racial issues with great success. Social workers and health care professionals have been the driving force behind massive social change. Much work still remains, but the people in the “system” have been key to progress.

It seems to be that the real purpose of Mr. Delaney's columns was made clear near the end. He is sick and tired of politicians and the media talking about racism.

Now this is, perhaps, more understandable . This is already a very uncomfortable conversation for us white males, and the confrontational approach taken by the “woke” left is a major turn-off to a lot of people. It does often seem be more about signaling one's virtue to the world than it is healing society's divides.

However, Mr. Delaney seems to attribute these traits (as well as partially-explained academic ideas like Critical Race Theory that, let's face it, few regular people have even heard of) to almost anyone in the media or in politics who attempt to discuss systemic racism.

Unfortunately, I'm afraid Mr. Delaney has fallen into the emotional partisan trap of the modern political era. If your political opponents take one point of view, you must take the opposite.

For the partisan-minded this is a safe, comfortable place to reside — but if Mr. Delaney (and our more “woke” friends out there) left his comfort zone and actually spoke with the people he's opposing rather than demonizing them and shouting them down, I think he might find that the muddy middle is where reality lies.

After the last four years of exhausting left/right division on everything from Star Wars to sports, I think it's long past time to embrace that muddy middle, Mr. Delaney.

Ryan Campbell, Islandview