Let's talk about some ways anti-Blackness manifests in Canada, shall we? 1/🧵

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Yesterday's legal observer (LO) assignment was at the Parents of Black Children press conference in response to the deluge of anti-anti-racist statements and pushes in the wake of the suicide of #RichardBilkszto (click the hashtag for more/older info).

The coverage from the conference includes:

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A coalition of Black community organizations is calling on the province to reaffirm its commitment to anti-racism training in education and publicly denounce “attempts to undermine or halt these efforts” in the wake of the suicide of a former principal who claimed he was bullied during an anti-racism training session two years ago.

“There is an active campaign to villainize and undermine anti-racism work in this province,” said Idris Orughu, one of the speakers at Wednesday’s event at Queen’s Park, organized by more than a dozen Black community groups from across the GTA.
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https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/black-community-groups-say-tdsb-principal-s-suicide-is-being-used-to-villainize-and-undermine/article_744ad4b7-e325-5b1a-a7c6-717b69f7c330.html
(or https://archive.is/hB638 archived Toronto Star article in case a paywall goes up);

Context from a CTV News piece:
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Richard Bilkszto, who worked on contract with the TDSB after his retirement in 2019, filed a lawsuit against the board in April, claiming that an anti-racism training session in 2021 and its aftermath destroyed his reputation.

Bilkszto claimed supervisors did not intervene and later retaliated against him when trainer Kike Ojo-Thompson allegedly implied he was racist and humiliated him in front of colleagues after he disagreed that Canada was more racist than the U.S.

A lawyer for Bilkszto said her client died by suicide in July.

"It is clear to us, that his death has been used as a rallying point for right-wing opponents to dismantle the necessary and imperative anti-racism work," community leader Idris Orughu said outside the legislature Wednesday.
Orughu called any attempts to link death to anti-racism education are "immoral and unethical".

None of the allegations in Bilkszto's suit have been proven in court.

The TDSB has hired a third party investigator to look into the circumstances around Bilkszto's death.
❞ https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/anti-racism-diversity-training-under-threat-say-black-community-leaders-at-queen-s-park-rally-1.6504500 (or https://archive.is/OYOfc of it doesn't work)

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#AntiBlacknessIsGlobal #antiBlackness #DEI #CRT #WhiteFragility #WhitePrivilege #CanadaIsNotImmune #Racism #canPoli #topoli #CarymaNgo