Discussion of racism needed more context

Aisha Sherazi wrote that children in her classroom expressed concerns about racism in Ottawa after witnessing a Black man pulled over by three police cars. The students, she said “feel injustice keenly.”

I agree.

The topic of prejudice and racism is serious and important for children.

As an educator, why didn't Sherazi explore non-racist possibilities for what they saw, as a way to address their feelings? Had she done so, they might have gained insight into how easy it is to prejudge others based on their own unconscious reactions to superficial things such as skin colour, style of clothes or uniforms. It might also have led them to explore other external influences that made them feel and perceive events involving the police in the way they did when really, they might have had no facts with which to prejudge.

It would have been wonderful if Sherazi had explained how to skilfully and safely navigate deeply held “feelings of injustice,” but instead she gave us a lesson in the dangers of getting caught up in these same strong feelings — demonstrated when her writing leapt unexpectedly from Ottawa to Jerusalem, where she provided another unsympathetic account of a police response to a situation. She took an incredulous stance on the necessity of police action in the presence of rioters who were hurling rocks from the top of the Temple Mount on people praying below.

Keenly feeling injustice is a laudable sensitivity, but can make us vulnerable to manipulation by unscrupulous actors, especially online. There is no greater danger today than of being manipulated by politically motivated groups who select images and cherry-pick facts in order to inflame passions, sell products or even recruit people to illicit causes. If Sherazi wants to address inequality in real terms, as she states, then she needs to begin locally, with herself (as we all should).

Barry Mandelker, Ottawa