Whiteness is the problem

The debate in response to Hal Niedzviecki’s insulting editorial “Winning the Appropriation Prize” in the recent issue of Write magazine, which was intended to spotlight the work of Indigenous writers, shows that we don’t have a diversity problem in Canadian media but a whiteness problem.

The issue of inclusion/diversity is one that surfaces often in relation to print and TV media. For years, the public has been complaining about the lack of visible minorities on the CBC, for example. An important discussion on the CBC between Jesse Wente and Jonathan Kay on May 13 sheds light on the real problem.

As Jesse Wente points out right away, Canada itself is an example of appropriation. This is something that tends to remain unacknowledged by anyone who isn’t an Indigenous person. Canada is a colonial settler state; we live on stolen land, where the colonial perspective dominates any discussion of history, past or ongoing. Indeed, our government continues to push the idea that we should be celebrating 2017 as the 150^th anniversary of this country’s existence. What? Apart from the obvious fact that this landmass we call “Canada” existed long before 1867, does Confederation generally get the average Canadian excited? I know it’s what Canadians celebrate every July 1^st, but I’m not sure they all know that colonialism is what they’re celebrating. So, why exactly is a government that purports to be committed to truth and reconciliation so eager for us all to participate in insulting Indigenous peoples further by extending the one-day annual celebration to the whole year?

Jonathan Kay, who is no stranger to controversy, reinforces his social location throughout his commentary in the CBC video, as he tends to do. He accuses the Writers’ Union of Canada (TWUC) Equity Task Force of trying to shame Niedzviecki and commends less strident voices for critiquing Niedzviecki in a way that Kay finds more appropriate. Let me clarify what I’m getting that: Kay chooses to use his first minute of airtime (1) to admonish the TWUC Equity Task Force for being mean to the white editor who used his position to undermine the purpose of the issue of the magazine and (2) to tone police, which includes applauding those whom he perceives as the good detractors. Kay then goes on to criticize the TWUC Equity Task Force again for going after Niedzviecki for being racist, as if he had said “something that was akin to neo-Nazi propaganda.” Kay also admits that he did not like the editorial either because it was “flippant about a serious subject and insulting, given that the issue itself was about Indigenous writers.” This highlights a common problem in the discussions surrounding racism in this country. Many seem to be under the impression that racism means only using racial slurs and promoting or committing violence against racialized people. This is why Jonathan Kay could criticize the editorial on Saturday despite having chosen to put himself in the middle of the “Appropriation Prize” controversy on Twitter on Wednesday: he seems to believe that he is one of the good white people.

But nothing about whiteness is good. This is something that has to be acknowledged if we are to truly change how this country operates. By continuing to focus on diversity and inclusion, we continue to uphold whiteness, because demands for representation and inclusion allow white people to continue in their role as gatekeepers. Between minutes 6:40 and 7:48 in the CBC video, Jesse Wente sheds light on this problem.

At this point, Jonathan Kay tries to distance himself from the controversy by clarifying that he wasn’t one of the people who offered to put up money for the “Appropriation Prize.” So, once again, we see the narrative of the good white guy creep in. But as I stated above, Kay actually chose to insert himself in this controversy in the first place by taking to Twitter to criticize those reacting to the offensive editorial. That he did not offer to donate to fund this fictitious prize is not the point—and, in fact, in highlighting this, he chooses to centre himself in the larger debate. It is somewhat ironic, then, that good guy Jonathan Kay did not use his position to tell the other white editors/writers that they were being insulting, if that is what he truly believed at the time. It is easy to apologize for not calling them out after contemplating the reactions to their statements. Yet Kay shows his unwillingness to listen by continuing to use this CBC platform to chide the TWUC Equity Task Force for accusing Niedzviecki of racism.

As Jesse Wente asserts, we need to move past apologies and reach a point where we see real change, and we must “move beyond conflating free speech debate and artistic expression with ongoing colonial appropriation.” After all, the popular accusation is one of political correctness run amok any time whiteness is called out for doing what whiteness is meant to do—centre and uplift itself as if it is innately rational, righteous, and meritorious.

Interestingly, Kay unwittingly underlines the problem of whiteness when he reassures us that the first issue editors discuss at meetings is diversity. In other words, the media has always been controlled by white people and continues to be controlled by white people, who have the privilege of selecting which other voices they will allow to enter their space. This matter was most recently visible in the case of columnist Desmond Cole’s resignation from the Toronto Star, whose gatekeepers seem to have had a problem with his activism.

It is unfortunate that we are still in an environment where Jesse Wente has to participate in such discussions with the likes of Jonathan Kay, and that he must do so with such composure. If Wente were to express himself in a way that the white establishment deems impolite, he would no longer have a voice in mainstream media. And that is the crux of the diversity matter: no matter how many diverse faces and voices are out there, well-off white people continue to make the decisions. We do not need to work harder at diversity and inclusion; we need to replace the system so that whiteness is no longer synonymous with decision-making in this country. And since those who belong to the establishment are so fond of the idea of people coming up based on merit, surely they won’t object to such a change.