Author: EquityNetwork1

The aim is to address the growing distance between two arguments warring in education at the moment. The concerns centre on whether elementary aged children are to be introduced to information about gender, sexuality and gender expression at school.

Direction
At the centre of the argument are 2 ideas. Should elementary aged children be taught about sexuality, gender and gender expression? In what grades would it be reasonable for children to learn about these aspects of identity?

Some parents, educators, politicians feel that the provision of complex information to impressionable children may confuse or at worse, permanently alter children’s ideas of themselves.

On the other hand information about 2 Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual, plus (2SLGBTQIA+) communities are already readily available in a range of formats and spaces (online). Curious minors could access information such as this unfiltered. Schools, I imagine, would be safe places to enable students to begin broadening their understanding of themselves initially, and wider presentations of identity. This is the alternative idea.

Panthers
I will state that as long as a culture war is being viciously fought. With heavy casualties on all sides of the argument, those who hold power are able to hoot at our folly and continue to profit off of our continued enmity. Fred Hampton, he of the Black Panthers, had a singularly powerful idea. When diverse and disparate members of society co-ordinate and collaborate when fighting against a political power structure, notice has to be paid to that group! Who then are unified against a common scourge. Be it a political system, capitalism, corporate greed, poverty, substandard housing, unbalanced policing and cracks in the system of education .

Mesh
Many in our global community are affected by some, if not all of the concerns listed above. In Canada a thin veil hovers between those who have and those who do not, providing some with the illusion of security and safety. Many live a paycheck or two away from homelessness! When beneath the chiffon, we become aware of how precariously peace holds there! A pendulum swings in this space, between apathy and outrage. Here the battle rages between educators, parents, students, councillors, the party politic and writers attempting to wrestle sense from the crush! What is to be decided – educators and schools sharing information with young students, the topic of identity. Specifically schools discussing gender expression and whether the sex one is assigned at birth, is the one a person is to remain being the for life.

Your Turn

@EquityNetworkD on X
They don’t and won’t stop with 2SLGBTQIA+ folks. This movement is white supremacist, anti-Black, anti-indigenous, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic, eugenicist and misogynist 7/10. This X comment by the Equity Network reminds me of the Niemöller poem: First They Came…

Trust
Relating to the concerns about educating the children, we the public, have a right to know that our children are being well educated. That the structures of education follow a code that is ethical, moral, balanced, illuminating, inspired and invite students to question their world. The point that appears to have caused the melee, is the idea of indoctrination. Doug Ford, current premier of Ontario, shared his thoughts on the current education concerns. He used the term indoctrination relating to school children learning about gender identity and gender expression. The term indoctrination used in this way is an incendiary dog whistle statement. Drawing a response from his party-political all faithful.

High Chair
Indoctrination much like propaganda, pushes the idea of providing illicit, near illegal information to minors (as though a narcotic, or OxyContin). Do you hear the whistle now? The premise is that educators will influence students to consider significant internal changes. Of how they recognise themselves to be on a fundamental level. For me there is something interesting taking place in the arguments. Similarly to my previous blog on the causes of a person to unalive themselves. We would be wise to notice that influence is universal and continual. Adults are aware that a child’s mind is impressionable. A child is as willing to believe in magical thinking as well as to know that gravity is a real force. As a toddler they did the toast, rusk, bowl, bottle drop test! Gravity as a magical magnet.

Sense
The challenge is in providing information to all involved with educating children – gender is an aspect of identity we are to consciously process. With great sensitivity. Sexuality and gender expression could be introduced at a time when children are questioning these aspects of their identities. I can remember sex education in my primary school as being something that made me squirm – internally. I was 8 or 9 years old at the time. If either parent had had a conversation with me before this lesson, normalising and assisting my appreciation of how natural human reproduction was, I doubt my nervousness would have been as great.

Collapse
Over 20 years ago I enjoyed wearing a sarong around the house and whenever I felt brave also out in public. I can remember meeting someone who I had served coffee to earlier in the day. At one point in my life I was a barista at a coffee shop in central London. And now this patron was seeing me in different clothes. They didn’t say anything to me, nor I to them, but there was this look. A disdain. A barely disguised sneer. They disapproving from their vantagepoint. An invisible yet loud message was passed. Stating in all caps: MEN SHOULD NOT BE SEEN LIKE YOU ARE, OUT IN PUBLIC! It was a momentary glance but it is one that invited me to be aware of shame, masculinity, fashion, gender and expression with discomfort.

Stroll
Moving about Brixton on this warm Summer’s eve with little care of who noticed me. I had felt secure in my maleness before. That was until I met their sneer, and my confidence evaporated. Perhaps there was an element of envy in them that did not want to accept that Black men in London could wear whatever they liked. I wonder too if those to the right of the argument either fear or envy the choice some young people have of being able to live non gender conforming lives? Denying themselves decades of psychoanalysis and years of closeting parts of themselves away. Speaking with a student at PACE who supports me at the Mac MS Fit programme, shared with me her perspective “It’s like the young people of today have a choice to be whatever they want! Older generations never had that!”

@EquityNetworkD on X
Confronting such Vitriol and violence seriously endangers queer, trans, Black, Indigenous, racialized, disabled, young folks and elders. The more of us show up, the safer we are. On the day and beyond. 8/10

Generosity
I wonder what Fred Hampton would have made of these arguments. ‘Hold children away from identity information, or sensitively introduce and support learning?’ The Black Panthers were intensely interested in school and education. As well as collective social activism. The Black Panthers held a belief that education could free minds and help create a fair American society. Mr. Hampton knew that the Black Panthers could make change only if a collaborative effort, from disparate groups who were interested in revolutionizing everything, showed up in numbers. Change is always community lead I believe.

The Aye’s Have It
What is at the centre of the disagreement is how much information should children know and at what age, if ever is the concern? Should gender expression be presented too early, could that information influence a child to choose one identity over another? There is a large element of the unknown in both arguments. Perhaps certainty is a last bastion of a colonial system that has outlived it’s usefulness. There is excitement, risk and endeavour in both camps protestations. What could both sides gain from what is in between – left and right of the concern, I wonder?

Side Step
The podcasts and articles that follow are either directly related to the principle concerns and a few are not. For me, the problem with being right is we tend not to hear when someone is saying things we vehemently oppose. We shut them and their ideas down. We remain in sainthood whereby everybody else is seen as woefully wrong. We on the side of good, just and right. They on the wrong side of everything and will forever be more so. We stop having a sense of perspective when holding fast to being right.

Objective Truth
The opposing side hold tightly to their ideas too. I am borrowing from Dr. Yvon Guest’s Art work here. In ‘No Man’s Land: Navigating a Black and white world’, if we were to meet there, some of what is shared could be given space to grow. In No Man’s Land, where no side holds any power or influence, opinions could be heard and given space to support understanding on both sides of the debate, perhaps assist in learning anew.

Trains
We all lose if war prevents us from arriving at logical progressive solutions. The main similarity between the arguments is wanting the best for future generations of children. Blocking, banning and fashioning laws that prevent humanity at arriving, appears only to highlight our limited understanding of ourselves, each other and the complex world we live upon. In being right we dislocate our appreciation of truth. To move forward both left and right are to co-ordinate efforts with locomotion. Conflict is a catalyst to social change. The alternative is that we remain in a forever stalled position…

Resources
Hidden Brain with Shankar Vedantam In this episode Shankar discuses with Linda Skitka moral convictions.
Revisionist History with Malcolm Gladwell discusses Laundry Done Right. In this episode Malcolm and colleagues go to great lengths to share an idea about a cold wash! Wait for the dishwasher reveal that arrives at the end. We often feel we know what is best and I like that Malcolm is capable of showing us his learning. There is amazement and humour in unlearning what we held as truth!
Poetry Unbound with Pádraig O Tuama shares Faisal Mohyuddin’s poem Prayer. There are a few lines that stand out in particular in reference to being right, which are summarized in the poem as a perfect emptiness describing the unknowable essence of everything we hold dear. Again I am troubling the idea of being right here.
In the episode of Criminal Podcast I was intrigued by what Phoebe Judge and the team are able to discuss in this episode. ‘They Came for the Judges’ describes the horror of the Taliban seizing Afghanistan and releasing all prisoners from prisons in a city. Female Judges are forced to leave the country to secure their safety. In this story there are clear sides of being right and wrong.
Code Switch Stepping Back Inside – Dream House. In this memoir Carmen Maria Machado shares her story as a writer about meeting Ms. Right who turns out to be so, so very wrong. What I enjoyed about this story is the interplay between Carmen’s multi-layered considerations about her identity and who she allowed herself to be when in company. I cannot wait to read more from this writer. Who is right is the question that floats throughout this podcast? It is as confusing as it is compelling.
Questlove Supreme Podcast with Bonnie Raitt. What I love about this episode is how in tune the Dream Team are with their guest. Bonnie Raitt speaks on a number of issues including her music, being a hall of famer, activism and on paying legends in the music business their due. The conversation is nuanced, layered and ventures both left and right. My aim of listing this episode of Questlove Supreme, amongst the other points was to emphasise that through mutual appreciation a welcome understanding can be achieved.
GTA 1000s Gather to Protest – A fact based article on a September protest in Toronto. The story looks at both sides of the argument offering readers a chance to review what they know. Presenting why so many people showed up to protest.
Gender Identity Transgender Lessons in Schools. This article discusses the challenge schools and teachers face when presenting gender, identity, sex ed and education on LGBTQI+ communities. I enjoyed this quote from Kathleen Ethier who said “When you make a school environment safe and supportive for the most vulnerable youth, you improve the school environment for everyone.” Nuff said!
Hidden Brain – Moral Combat
Revisionist History – Laundry done Right
Poetry Unbound – Prayer
TheY came for the Judges
Code Switch Stepping Back Inside Carmen Maria Machado’s Dream House
Questlove Supreme with Bonnie Raitt
GTA 1000s Gather to Protest
Gender Identity Transgender Lessons in Schools

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