Awkward imitation doesn’t mean racism
There’s no question it was hard to watch. The word “cringeworthy” was invented for moments like that.
But there’s a certain amount of overkill in the reaction to B.C. Green candidate Mark Neufeld’s awkward rendition of a tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. It’s remarkable how after watching a few seconds of video of a white man trying to do an impression of a black hero, some people can leap avidly to the conclusion that there’s racism involved.
There was no such thing. No question it was insensitive to adopt the persona of a civil-rights leader who was campaigning for something way more important than a seat in the B.C. legislature, and who paid for it with his life.
But some people need to back up and review what racism is.
It’s a belief in the superiority of one race over others, and the prejudice that follows. Neufeld has made clear he idolizes Martin Luther King. It’s ludicrous to accuse him of racism. It cheapens the word to the point it becomes less meaningful than it should be.
There are other lessons from the rally. The one for me, standing at the back of the room, is how small the margin of error is during election campaigns.
I watched the performance and thought to myself: “That was a horrible debut by a new candidate who has no idea what he’s doing, and I never want to think about this again.”
But any number of videos were made, and very soon, they made it online. Never underestimate the number of people looking for something to get outraged about. That started to boil in short order, and in no time, Neufeld’s routine had become a story.
The first four minutes were standard fare. It’s the last two that got weird.
“We’re going to be lean, we’re going to be clean and we’re going to be Green … ya’ll. Yesterday, I went to the mountaintop. You’re thinking to yourself … that must be Mount Douglas … . No it’s not, it’s Pkols, ya’ll.”
Then he launched into a fullfledged Martin Luther King routine.
“I’m not fearing anything! I’m not fearin’ anyone. I went to the mountaintop. And I looked down and I seen the promised land … Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Greens.”
The reaction to the self-described “official English teacher of the B.C. Green Party” was understandably negative, because the self-absorbed moment involved a lot of appropriation.
But it was more bad political theatre than it was a social crime.
The person who commented that it was “one of the most disgusting political acts I have ever witnessed” clearly hasn’t been getting out much.
Federal NDP leadership candidate Peter Julian, a Burnaby MP, was almost as over-the-top as Neufeld was in labelling it a “racist imitation.”
There was no ridicule in it. It was a tribute of sorts. An awkward tribute that raises all sorts of problems, but a tribute nonetheless. And he has apologized profusely since.
Julian also said it was made worse by the B.C. Greens’ “dismissal and refusal to condemn.”
Green Party Leader Andrew Weaver waffled at first, and tried to defend his candidate, then gave up and said it was completely inappropriate. These things take time to sink in.
The hunt for similar embarrassing moments in other candidates’ lives has been going on for months by political research teams.
B.C. Liberals opened Monday with jabs at four NDP candidates who raised varying degrees of controversy in the past.
One of them was Columbia RiverRevelstoke candidate Gerry Taft, a white man who secured the NDP nomination despite the party’s equity policy designed to secure that candidacy for a woman or member of a disadvantaged group. Taft won it by disclosing bisexuality, which qualifies.
Liberals leaked an e-mail he wrote in January that discussed how heated the internal argument got over that move.
Taft wrote that he didn’t think there were barriers to participation in politics, but diversity means standing out from “stereotypical bald, grumpy, retired old white male candidates.”
The NDP fired back by accusing Liberal Mid Island-Pacific Rim candidate Darren Deluca of being a … wait for it — “Trump supporter” — on the strength of his endorsement of an article rejoicing in the Republican win.