WHILE MANY — ESPECIALLY IN THE LIBERAL CAMP — ARE LOOKING TO MOVE PAST THE BLACKFACE SCANDAL, TRUDEAU STILL HAS MUCH TO ANSWER FOR. CHRISTIE BLATCHFORD ASKS THE MOST URGENT QUESTIONS.
Owning up in traditional sense means resigning
While it is apparently bad form (certainly among Liberals) to dwell upon the “blackface” scandal, probably even to call it a scandal, I am not Choosing Forward.
I Choose Backwards, to those two days last week when the world learned that the current Canadian prime minister has over the course of more than a decade, worn blackface on at least three occasions.
The Liberal leader is wary of saying if there are any more such pictures or video likely to surface because, he said, he hadn’t remembered the third incident that became public last, but was chronologically, the second.
Thus, Urgent Questions for Justin Trudeau:
Toronto radio station Newstalk 1010’s Lucas Meyer asked Trudeau about this second-in-time incident twice on Monday.
In the video that aired first on Global News, Trudeau, apropos of nothing obvious, donned blackface at the costume day of the whitewater river rafting company where he was a guide for a couple of summers in 1992-94, when he would have been between 21 and 23.
He was wearing a T-shirt with what may be a Toucan on it. He had carefully blackened his face and neck, arms and legs where his jeans were trendily torn at the knees.
He jumped around a lot. He may have been wearing an Afro wig. And there was definitely something stuffed in his pants or pocket.
And what was that costume or character you were supposed to be? Or were you just meant to be a random black guy boogieing around, as apparently you believe they do?
And how on earth is a river guide so uncannily prepared for showtime?
Many Canadians have been on a whitewater rafting trip, me among them.
I vaguely recall my packing checklist: sleeping bag, check; ground sheet, check; bug spray, check; sunscreen, check; rain jacket, check.
Who adds “big jar of blackface, check”?
Who thinks like that: Hmm, we have a costume day coming up, better take the old blackface along?
Or did you just pack a jar of it always because you never knew when you might need some? And if so, when did you stop doing that and when did you recognize that it was wrong?
About the earliest incident, wherein Trudeau while still in high school appeared in blackface performing the Harry Belafonte classic Day-O, he said it was at a talent show.
Which high school was it? Private or public? What year? Who were you trying to be or portray?
The most recent incident was a 2001 event, when Trudeau was a 29-year-old teacher at the West Point Grey Academy gala.
It was, as the British-based Telegraph has reported, meant to be a formal do, albeit with an “Arabian Nights” theme. Men wore tuxedos.
Not Trudeau, who dressed up in blackface, complete with black face, hands and feet, and wore a giant turban on his head.
He was the only one in blackface.
Did you misunderstand the invitation/evening, Mr. Trudeau? How did you convert “formal” to “costume”? Is it part of your white privilege caused-“blind spot”?
And why did you leave the posh school, where tuition for JK to Grade 7 is $21,780 and for older grades $23,490, only a few months later? No one, the Telegraph report said, suggested the blackface incident was the reason.
But what was?
And why do you keep saying you “take responsibility” for your pattern of blackface wearing?
Taking responsibility for bad behaviour or errors in judgment, in the traditional sense, means owning up to something and accepting the consequences. In the political sense, in days gone by, it also usually meant resigning.
What are your consequences, sir?
A slight (and probably temporary) dip in your popularity and the polls? An awkward conversation with the kids, in which you explain that as a child born into wealth and a sense of entitlement (perhaps your parents’ fault), which carried with it a huge blind spot, you didn’t understand that mocking someone for the colour of their skin was not only wrong, but also painful? The embarrassment of being publicly outed as a lightweight, insensitive clod?
From Lucas Meyer, Monday:
Question: “What was that costume (the river rafting one)?”
Answer from Trudeau: “I am continuing to be open with Canadians about the mistake (note the use of the singular) I made. This is something I take responsibility for. This is something that I should have known better but didn’t.
“I will continue to work every day to fight racism, to fight discrimination, to fight intolerance in this country.”
Question: “With all due respect prime minister, that wasn’t even close to answering the question — what was that costume?”
Answer from Trudeau: “I have been open with Canadians, I will continue to be open with Canadians. I will continue to fight racism and intolerance every day. I take responsibility for the terrible mistakes I made in the past. And commit to continue to fight against racism and intolerance every day.”
It was akin to his “answer” to the many lingering questions about the SNC-Lavalin scandal: “I will always stand up for Canadian jobs.”
Turns out, the only Canadian job he stands up and fights for is his own.
Choose backwards, until the answers are forthcoming.