The Alberta Worker
Sure, the fact that 47% of the workforce in Canada, for example, 25 years old and older are women is part of that point. If they all walked off the job, we’d have to somehow virtually double the men in the workforce. And that’s not including females under 25. But—you may ask—couldn’t we say the […]
The justice system is broken; it’s racist. Here’s why. In 2017, the Office of the Correctional Investigator published a report (see my notes below) that included statistics on indigenous people in Canadian prisons. Here are some highlights: Indigenous people make up 26.4% of Canada’s prison population Indigenous people make up only 5% of the general […]
You’ve probably noticed an increase in media reports of famous men being accused of varying degrees of sexual violence, ranging from sexual harassment to sexual assault to rape. If you’ve been reading the news reports and following the reaction on social media, you’ve probably heard people saying that the accused persons deserve due process. Or […]
My second job in Lethbridge was cleaning carpets. My boss was racist. One time, we went to a nearby reserve, but the person who booked us wasn’t home. My boss then implemented a surcharge for every reserve job we had. Plus he required the client to meet us in Lethbridge and we’d follow them to […]
Have you ever seen white people complain when governments pay reparations to marginalized groups for the oppressive actions of previous governments, particularly regarding people of colour? Have you seen them say something like “They’ve already paid them enough. It’s in the past. Let’s move on.”? This position is racist. See, the problem is that white […]
A Lethbridge city councillor recently shared an article that reported on a recent city council meeting regarding the city’s effort to address the opioid crisis. Several people commented on their post, offering words of agreement, but there were a few comments I found problematic.
“I’m not racist.” Have you heard people say this? Have you said it? What does this mean exactly? What does it mean to be not racist? Does being not racist mean you don’t call people names based on their skin colour? Does it mean that you treat everyone the same regardless of skin colour? Does […]
When you openly criticize a system you live in, eventually you hear the following: why don’t you just leave?
A few months ago, I was asked to speak in a sociology class at the University of Lethbridge. The topic was taking back the community and the media. At one point, the discussion turned to the democratization of the media. At the time, the Alberta Legislature had recently banned what it had considered non-journalistic sources. […]
It may come as a surprise to many that I’m a communist. Actually, given my left leanings as of recent, some people may not be that surprised. I know it’s already too late, but before you start prejudging me, you may want to realize that you probably misunderstand what communism is, and subsequently, you probably […]