Pride flag flap and racist dog whistles in park
Twin peaks of intolerance spark backlash from community panel
Passionate issues call for passionate responses.
“We are all wonderfully made” and “Central Park Karen” may seem like deceptively sunny catchphrases, but both speak to the cagey intolerance that plagues serious discussion about racism and homophobia in 2020.
In the first case, the Waterloo Catholic District School Board rejected the rainbow flag traditionally hoisted during Pride month — a beacon of acceptance to the LGBTQ2S community — for a scrawled on a napkin replacement featuring a simplistic statement of inclusion and Christ-like figure reaching out to a crowd of worshippers.
Greeted with outrage by those it was designed to appease, its true intent became clear when board trustee Greg Reitzel was quoted saying “Pride is the deadliest of the deadly sins.”
Late Friday, after our community panel had convened, the Board bowed to community pressure and backed down, opting to fly no flag at all during Pride month. Back to the drawing board.
In the second case, a former University of Waterloo student walking in New York’s Central Park pulled the race card when a Black man politely asked her to leash her dog, telling police “there’s an African American man threatening my life.”
When a video of their interaction refuted her account, the uproar sparked accusations of racism and earned her the derogatory nickname “Karen,” internet shorthand for a whiny, entitled white woman who always wants to speak to the manager.
On this week’s panel, five people affected, directly and otherwise, by these subversive attempts to stoke intolerance and duck responsibility: Indigenous activist Lori Campbell, musician parent Sean Stokholm, Black history prof Christopher Taylor, community theatre activist Pam Patel and Kitchener Centre MPP Laura Mae Lindo. First off, and I say this with all the whiny outrage I can muster, I would like to speak to the manager about the Waterloo Catholic District School Board, which has proven itself adept at targeting marginalized communities using public money. What do you guys think? Patel: It’s obvious that folks who supported this decision are avoiding the point of Pride. Just like when folks promote #AllLivesMatter as a response to #BlackLivesMatter. Creating this “faux inclusive” flag is skirting around the issues and actively works against creating an inclusive space for ALL students. Taylor: This isn’t about the raising of the Pride flag, this is about someone — and an institution — promoting homophobia and transphobia under the guise of inclusion and under the cover of religion. Lori, as an “Indigiqueer Two-Spirit person,” do you take solace in the fact the Board is at least doing something? Campbell: The Christianized creation of a new flag supposedly
meant to mean “God loves everybody,” including queer people, yet specifically designed to cause the direct erasure of the historic Pride flag — a symbol representing the deep-seated history of violence, persecution, undeniable strength and pride of the queer community — is absurd! It takes a lot of chutzpah — is that the word? — to hide behind the banner of “inclusion?”
Stokholm: This whole flag thing could be dismissed as a Monty Pythonesque skit about “Churchs-plaining,” were the consequences not so destructive. I’m the father of a trans daughter. Violence against trans people is on the rise in Canada. That means she has to live in fear, as I do, every time she leaves the house. Just for being herself. After the backlash, Reitzel issued an apology, pledged support for dignity and respect, and expressed sadness “that people have been hurt by words I said but hope they will understand they were taken out of the context.” Who here took his words out of context? Stokholm: Given that he trotted
out the very same “pride is sin” line in 2014, arguing against Catholic teachers being allowed to participate in Pride marches, and since he’s using that as a dog whistle to perpetuate hatred and violence against LGBTQ people, I say his ass should be fired. Can you fire an elected trustee?
Campbell: He should resign. There’s no place for publicly elected people who make hateful, harmful, and divisive statements about those they’re supposed to be there to serve and advance their well-being.
Patel: Reitzel and those who agree with him should sit with the discomfort they’re feeling from discussing LGBTQ+ issues. And they shouldn’t be able to escape that discomfort so easily. I sense you guys have seen this scenario play out before. Lindo: Where’s the action behind the words? Because no inclusion flag being flown is going to repair the harm and distrust with leadership now being felt by LGBTQ2S students, educational workers and their families and friends. What needs to happen? Stokholm: I have friends who are Catholic. They’re good and decent people. But folks like them have to start speaking out. Minimally, I resent that public money supports a school system dedicated to perpetuating anti-LGBTQ and anti-woman beliefs. That has to stop. Let’s jump to Amy Cooper, the University of Waterloo grad dubbed “Central Park Karen” after false claims she was being attacked by a Black man in Central Park stoked media outrage. Taylor: I’d rather just call her for what she is: a white woman that co-opted the language of diversity and inclusion and used her white womanhood as a potentially lethal weapon. To be fair, there were consequences. Taylor: She supposedly got fired and lost her dog. Cry me a river. She’ll end up on the Joe Rogan podcast and next thing she’ll be on Trump’s re-election campaign trail trying to get the ‘African-American’ vote. Laura Mae, you’re immersed in these issues every day. Were you surprised? Lindo: It’s exhausting because it just keeps happening. We all know she’s lying because she says it on camera — and this
is literally part of the everyday reality of being Black in an antiBlack world. Public outrage was definitely warranted. Yet, like Christopher, you believe nothing will change.
Lindo: Her action — calling the police with a false allegation that can literally put a Black man’s life in jeopardy — was a clear sign she knew that, as a White woman, she could say and do whatever she wanted and be believed. Her apology was simply saying “I’m sorry I got caught.” And then her life goes on. She lost her job. Lindo: Being fired will not stand in the way of her finding new work without having to do anything to address her racism. And the Black community? Lindo: We’re re-traumatized, reminded that White privilege will allow these actions to keep happening, that the systems that protect our White neighbours, friends and community members will not protect us. Minneapolis is in flames after a Black man died in police custody. A Black jogger was shot to death in Georgia. An Afro-Indigenous woman plunged off a Toronto balcony while police were in her apartment. Is the self righteous backslapping over Amy Cooper’s comeuppance the real-life equivalent of a historic Hollywood racial drama, designed to make White people feel good about how far they’ve come?
Taylor: This is a reflection of how we’re OK with dealing with racism when it’s low hanging fruit, as opposed to real systemic and structural issues such as police killing Black men with little to no repercussions. And, of course, there’s been a predictable backlash.
Patel: It makes me concerned because I see so many folks making this about them, arguing that “not all white women” are racist, or commenting on the way the dog was treated in the video. I’ve heard very few folks actually acknowledge the person on the receiving end of this racist attitude.
Campbell: Not behaving racist is one thing, but until people actively take steps to oppose racism, in all forms, it will continue to fester.