Equity Network member Michael Forfieh has written a powerful and educating article on his website addressing the attacks against the Kojo Institute and the pressures that are mounting to roll back gains made as a result of Anti-racist training and Diversity Equity and Inclusion programmes. The article is reposted below along with a list of resources.
LOSING TO INJUSTICE
Probable Cause
In this blog post I want to address the attacks against the Kojo Institute and the pressures that are mounting to roll back gains made as a result of Anti-racist training and Diversity Equity and Inclusion programmes. The cause – white death and the heavy cost of enlightenment.
I am writing this blog on behalf of the Equity Network. In relation to a few articles that have responded to the event of a man’s suicide. My aim here is to explore the misuse of power exhibited by the media. Pitting mental illness and suicide against Equity Diversity and Inclusion training. That impacts on the provision of this much needed and overdue way of inviting dominant cultural groups to the practice of critical thinking. As discussed by Resmaa Menakem with Tani Simon.
There We Go
The Blacklash that has taken place against the Kojo Institute, since Richard Bilkszto took his life, seems unfair, biased and looked to simplify a complex set of occurrences. What I am most disappointed by is the slim speed at which media outlets chose to discuss the story. Highlighting one possible cause as the likelihood of Mr. Bilkszto unaliving himself. What I am not surprised by is the lack of due regard to a Black woman who is the CEO of Kojo Institute. Dehumanizing and villainizing the training and the institute for stating a personal finding “Canada is as racist a country as the USA”. Evidence to highlight Canada as being a racist country similar to the US, could begin with looking at the media frenzy stirred after the story broke.
Truth V
One concept that appears to stand out for me is the idea of whose lives matter more? The answer should be everyone’s lives matter and that there is equal rights for Black, Indigenous, Latin X, SE Asian, Asian and white people. The anger, vitriol and vicious comments raised against the Kojo Institute suggest otherwise. The court of social media appear to offer – that a white male is presented as being more valuable to Canada (the world) than a Black woman. Whatever gains through public declarations that many companies and organisations made after the public lynching of George Floyd, have been walked back. To the point where a sprint is taking place to move away from the promises of systemic change needed in Western societies. 3 years since George Floyd’s death the initiatives and the will to address the lie of white body supremacy has evaporated and we are left with just a mirage…
Complexity
As a mental health professional, learning about difference, equity and inclusion is often a charged encounter. With the years of experience that the Kojo Institute has, I am confident that flash points would be appropriately managed and resolved. What I am not so confident with is the idea that a man took his life as a result of training that took place over 2 years ago. We cannot know the numerous reasons that Mr. Bilkszto took his life. There are other unknowable factors that are not being presented or observed by the media. These elements lay at the edges of many of the articles posted globally and are not used in discussion to complicate and responsibly report. One point is to be observed: Engaging with DEI training pokes at lies, uncovers truth and invites delegates to question systemic factors that negatively impact Black, Latin X, Indigenous, S. E. Asian and Asian peoples and should be stopped because it makes a dominant group uncomfortable.
Roll Back
The idea that seems pressing to me is that pausing DEI programmes will turn a tide of liberalism in Canada, into a militant police state that treats minoritised people as undesirables of the country. Since George Floyd’s public murder, the roots of systemic factors that impact visible minority communities were made undeniable. If DEI programmes are withdrawn across Canada mitigating against the harmful impact of systemic racism in public and private spaces, I wonder what the next steps will be? At the Equity Network we are not going to allow this to happen. Too much is at stake. Whilst Florida is a good distance away, there are echoes of what could be possible in Canada/globally. That is if enough wrong-footed rhetoric, based on untruths and faulty logic are permitted to win hearts minds and policies in Ontario specifically and around the world universally.
Responsible Journalism
There is a need for good journalism to present facts, be based in providing unbiased or objective truth and present information with as much journalistic integrity as is possible to inform and allow members of the public to come to their own conclusions. Rather than be force fed information which can lead to doubling down on misinformation and holding these ideas as truth. As a member of public, I want journalists in our local community as well as nationally/globally to present information in ways that invite thought and a want and a need to get close to the truth.
As a member of the Equity Network who observe responsible journalism as an equitable concern, I am interested in what the haste is to roll back DEI programmes and hold these as likely causes for persons to unalive themselves and not as points where ignorance, challenging ideas and anti racism can be clearly addressed.
The resources below are a collection of ideas for what potentially lies ahead.
Resources
Articles by Shree Paradkar and Sonja Fatah begin by unpacking the ‘misdirect’ in clear unbiased and responsible ways. Supporting ideas of slowly approaching rational choices.
In 2021 after the Capital building in Washington DC, was taken under siege, Brené Brown offered her insights on people choosing to hide with their dirty pain, and not choosing clean pain instead.
Resmaa Menakem and Robin Di Angelo discuss their books and what readers, activists and those willing to engage in Anti Black Racism work could gain from their ideas.
I first came across the Zero Sum myth when Simon Sinek posed the concept a few years ago. Here Ibram X Kendi discusses the idea in a literal sense with Heather McGhee
Tani Simon speaks with Resmaa Menakem on what Somatic Abolitionism is, and the theory of reps is given clarity.
In the perfect storm I look at what has arrived for me since George Floyd’s murder.
Shree Paradkar and Sonja Fatah articles
Brené Brown Unlocking Us Dehumization and Accountability
Resmaa Menakem and Robin Di Angelo Discuss their new Books
Be Anti Racist with Ibram X Kendi The Zero Sum Myth
Tani Simon and Resmaa Menakem Discuss Somatic Abolitionism
Blog The Perfect Storm