Posted on 09/23/2019 5:03:01 AM PDT by billorites
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is desperately trying to apologize for the multiple times he appeared in blackface. He has asked for forgiveness, blaming his behavior on the fact that he comes from a place of privilege. But now, he adds, I have to acknowledge that that comes with a massive blind spot.
Karen Wang, of Vancouver, British Columbia, doesnt come from a place of privilege. She emigrated from mainland China in 1999 at age 23 and has built a respected day-care business. Last January, while running for Parliament as a candidate representing Justin Trudeaus Liberal Party in a special election, she was suddenly accused of racism. The Liberal Party panicked and within 24 hours forced her resignation, leaving her reputation in tatters.
What was Karen Wangs sin? One of her campaign volunteers wrote and posted a WeChat message in Mandarin that translates as:
If we can increase the voting rate, as the only [ethnic] Chinese candidate in this riding, if I can garner 16,000 votes, I will easily win the by-election, control the election race, and make history! My opponent in this by election is the NDP candidate [Jasmeet] Singh of Indian descent!
Convinced that she was a victim of a misunderstanding, she asked Prime Minister Trudeau, who is her partys leader, for a second chance. He spurned her, and the party filled the slot with another candidate who went on to lose the February 25 race by 13 points.
Wang was excoriated for her words by all of the PC forces in Canada. Law professor Warren Kinsella, the author of several books on racism, sent out this tweet:
Suggesting that your race is superior to your opponents race should disqualify you from running for Parliament. Will the #LPC get rid of their race-baiting candidate in #BurnabySouth? #cdnpoli #ndp
Wang contended that her words had been poorly translated, and she filed an appeal with Trudeau, her partys leader. She admitted making a mistake but insisted:
I meant no disrespect by that comment. As far as I am concerned it was merely a statement of fact. I did not mean it as a racial comment. . . . I would like the party to reconsider me for a second chance to run for the by-election.
Ironically, the candidate whom Wang supposedly smeared wasnt troubled by her original post. Jasmeet Singh, who eventually won the by-election and is now the leader of the New Democratic Party against Trudeau in the October 21 national election, accepted her apology. I didnt take it personal at all. I am concerned with divisive politics, he said. We see that in the south divisive politics and how it tears apart a country. I want to focus in on politics that bring people together because we share so much in common.
Indeed, it would be a stretch to call Wangs post racist. She pointed out that she shares a Chinese background with 40 percent of the voters in her district, adding that one of her opponents didnt. There was no implication of inherent racial superiority. As Lindsey Shepherd, a fellow at the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, pointed out, Wang was caught in a too-obvious act of appealing to her community yet it is not uncommon to see politicians in the Metro Vancouver region translate campaign literature into Chinese. U.S. history is similarly full of examples of candidates making ethnic-pride appeals; see the early campaigns of John F. Kennedy and Barack Obama for examples. But Justin Trudeau, who has unleashed his partys attack dogs on many political opponents for views he claims are racist and homophobic, wasnt about to dilute such a potent political weapon. He ignored Wangs appeal and effectively ended her political career.
Now Trudeau is on an apology tour. No pandering is beyond him. He has changed his Twitter profile picture to one of him smiling at a black person we see Trudeaus face and only the back of the black mans head. Critics have said this move is akin to claiming, Some of my best friends are black! 15
But voters are having a tough time absorbing his latest example of rank hypocrisy. Before the blackface photos surfaced, the Liberals were at or very close to a majority in Parliament, pollster Frank Graves of EKOS Research told Reuters. Thats completely turned around, and maybe the Conservatives are in majority range now. He notes that the Liberal lead in Ontario, which has 40 percent of Canadas voters, appears to have evaporated almost overnight.
The lessons to be learned from Justin Trudeaus fall from PC grace are legion. If his polls continue to tank, he will have a great deal of time to contemplate them as a former prime minister at age 47. Perhaps he should ask himself if the identity politics he has long embraced are dividing Canadians and making it harder for the country to focus on issues that affect everyone.
How low will he go? Justin once chided a little kid for saying “mankind.”
As proof of his (cough) conversion, Justin courageously changed his full-frontal Twitter profile picture...
now he's tolerantly smiling at a black person.
The Twits see only Trudeaus face and the back of the black mans head.
Critics have said this move is akin to claiming, Some of my best friends are black!
Okay, I'm confused. The Chinese gal was running against the Indian gal for leader of the New Democrat Party against(?) Trudeau. And when the shiite hit the fan and before she lost the election, the Chinese gal was asking forgiveness from Trudeau for her "racist" faux pas?
On an official trip to India he outfitted his entire family like Indians, rehearsed to act out tableaus mimicking Indians.
Justin prays to Buddha that no one will find pics of him in blackface singing "Day-O" dressed like Harry Belafonte.
Cultural appropriation!
The Commie bastige blaming his forebears / race for
his own behavior
Castreau needs to go back
Where are all the FReepers who insisted on throwing Trudeau a lifeline over this?
Maybe they learned their lessons.
Mr Dressup ,LOL
There’s even an hysterical video of Justin in another outfit doing an Indian dance.......
Is it as funny as the Indian Liz Warren doing the Texas two step explain her 1/2020th Indian Blood?
Karen Wang threw in with them in the first place.
This the one you mean?
This was a special election to fill a vacant seat. Jasmeet Singh (male btw) had been earlier elected as the new leader of the farther left New Democratic Party but he didn’t have a seat so to be more effective he needed to get elected so when this election came up he decided to run for it. The usual national parties run candidates in all seats even when the odds are against them. Wang was the first choice to run for the ruling Liberal party of which Trudeau was the leader and current PM. So Wang was trying to pull a big upset and win against a newly elected NDP leader by denying him a potential seat in Parliament. When Wang was replaced the expected result of Singh winning happened.
A university student is NOT a “little kid”. I’m sure the young lady would take SERIOUS umbrage at that monicker, even if she was a a liEberal function.
Let the OTHER side lie. We are above that, and it weakens our arguments (you know, logic and fact), giving the opposition a tool to denigrate truth.
Hey, 75 y/o Mr. Dressup with the flu would kick a healthy 25 year old Mr. Rogers’ butt ‘round the block.
Without even breathing hard.
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