Category Race & Ethnicity

News and opinion on race and ethnicity from The Canadian Progressive.

US Capitol protesters, egged on by Trump, are part of a long history of white supremacists hearing politicians’ words as encouragement

Last week's assault on the U.S. Capitol by pro-Trump white nationalists, far-right extremists, QAnon adherents, and members of white supremacy groups "reflects a long history" of U.S. political leaders encouraging deadly white supremacist violence against democratic governments, writes Shannon M. Smith, a historian of protests and Reconstruction.

The Canadian Progressive
January 12, 2021

US Vice President-elect Kamala Harris: “I may be the first woman in this office, I won’t be the last”

In her victory speech, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, says while she is the first African American person, first Indian American person, and first daughter of immigrants to serve as Vice President of the US, she "won’t be the last".

Obert Madondo
November 12, 2020

Taking a stand against white supremacy, popular knitting site Ravelry bans content supporting Trump

Ravelry, a free social networking service dedicated to knitting, crocheting, and other yarn crafts, recently made a strong public stance against white supremacy in the form of a policy banning content in support of U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration.

Obert Madondo
July 1, 2019

Why reconciliation and redemption are central to countering white supremacy

Instead of dehumanizing people who engage in extremism inspired by hate and white supremacy, we should try to understand their humanity, and the experiences, pain and vulnerability fueling their inclination to violence.

The Canadian Progressive
April 10, 2018

Why Black Panther’s Wakanda Is the Black Utopia We’ve Been Waiting For

Wakanda, the advanced fictional East African nation in Marvel Studios' Black Panther film, is the the Black utopia imagined by the African diaspora and its allies since the trans-Atlantic slave trade. And Black Panther is the powerful, intelligent and compassionate Black superhero whose time has arrived.

The Canadian Progressive
February 21, 2018

‘Clearing the plains’ continues with the acquittal of Gerald Stanley

Last week's decision by an all-white jury to acquit Gerald Stanley, the killer of Colten Boushie, a young Indigenous man from the Red Pheasant Cree Nation in Saskatchewan, calls for an overhaul of Canada's settler-based legal system, and an investigation into the racism embedded within Canadian society and police forces.

The Canadian Progressive
February 13, 2018

Trump may have emboldened hate in Canada, but it was already here

While many Canadians often associate the continuing rise in white supremacist hate in Canada to US President Donald Trump's divisive rhetoric, the right-wing extremist movement was already "alive and well" in Canada, "with more than 100 active groups and well over 100 reported incidents of right-wing extremist violence in the country between 1980 and 2015."

The Canadian Progressive
December 28, 2017

Quebec’s niqab ban uses women’s bodies to bolster right-wing extremism

Quebec’s recent passage of Bill 62, which bans the wearing of the niqab in Quebec for people seeking access to public services, appeases the political demands of the ultra-right in the province, argues Yasmin Jiwani, a Professor of Communication Studies at Concordia University.

The Canadian Progressive
October 27, 2017