Principles of power

I was disappointed to discover that Scott C's cover story ["Race and Black Faces, March 4] did not "explore the racial makeup of discrimination in Montreal" as the cover proclaimed, but consisted rather of Scott's interview with Journal de Montréal reporter Stéphane Alarie and his personal reactions to Mr. Alarie's race experiment. (For the record, I read all of Mr. Alarie's cited articles in le Journal de Montréal as they came out.)

Scott C's article includes such good investigative journalism as: "I bet there are…" and "there's no way a man with a thousand dollars worth of shoe polish on his face could really grapple with this stuff," as if wearing makeup interferes with someone's intellectual capacities.

I agree with Mr. C that there should be more direct voices of different races in our media. However, adding a majority voice to a minority issue historically strengthens, not diminishes the issue. It took upper-class, British-educated Ghandi to get under-educated, lower-class Indians to stage a revolution. It took white men such as Lincoln listening to a white woman like Harriet Beecher Stowe to give black men civil rights. It took white men voting to decide that women should get the vote. Scott C says himself that "it was Griffin's book (Black Like Me) that propelled the civil rights movement forward" - ie. a white male speaking to white people. (Aside: to confound the use of obvious comedic blackface to ridiculize blacks with the use of makeup to actually pass for black in a societal experiment is just irresponsible).

There are several unpalatable truths of human nature that Scott C is ignoring. One: people listen to those with power. A child crying has less weight than an adult pointing out a child is crying. A free man pointing out that slaves are suffering holds more weight than a slave saying he is suffering. A CEO saying that he saw employees mistreated holds more weight than employees speaking of their mistreatment. A white man with the vote holds more weight than a woman without the vote. Whether through racism, sexism, ageism, or other power differentials, the oppressed, by definition, have a less powerful voice than the oppressor.

Two: people give more credence to a voice they can identify with. Educated people like to hear the voice of educated people, a blue-collar union member is more likely to trust the opinion of a blue-collar worker than the opinion of the CEO.

So it is not surprising that if white people who consider themselves non-racist hear they acted in a discriminatory manner from a white man who fooled them into thinking he was black, they will listen to his account more closely. It is perhaps sad, but just a truth. If you want the ear of someone, it is best not to be "an outsider."

Personally, I have found I am treated with alarming nicety when wearing a long blond wig (I normally have rather dykey short boy hair). I usually assumed people's reaction to me was caused by my personal skills. Apparently the lack of traditionally feminine hair plays a larger part. No, listening to the experiences of a naturally feminine long-haired girl would not have given me the same insight. In fact, she's probably so used to being treated with alarming nicety she wouldn't even find it worth of remarking upon.

Mr. Alaire's experiment may have been "racist," but it had a raison d'être, and has voiced a real problem to people who may have been deaf to it before, or coming from a black person. Sad but true.

Finally, I wish that the cover promise of the Mirror had been upheld. I wish that a black man had redone the experiment, going undercover as a white man. As Mr. Alarie said, that would be a valuable equivalent. It removes the variables of personality, body language, cultural baggage, etc. that influence our reactions to someone. Now that's an article I'd like to read.

» Leanne Franson

Holes in the wall

While I thought Rosen's "More walls mean more bombers" editorial cartoon [Feb. 26] was cleverly done, I do not agree with his message. The wall (actually it's mostly a fence) can sadly still be infiltrated by those sent intent to murder civilians, Israeli Jews and Arabs, but I can understand the rationale of those who think this is the least harmful way to protect innocent lives.

Hamas and Fatah leaders do not need any excuses to send out suicide bombers (have you noticed they never send one of their own family?) as the mere existence of Israel is reason enough for them. It's a pity that few remember that before the 1987 Intifada Palestinians and Israelis could travel freely in each other's territory without hindrance.

It is also a pity that journalists living here, so far from the situation there, feel they are "experts" on what Israel should, or should not do. I wonder how Canadians would feel if Israeli journalists would debate the English-French problem, or aboriginal rights issues.

» Ezra Franken, Montreal/Jerusalem

Redundancy revealed!

Gotta love the Montreal Mirror. In an article about Harris Newman in this week's issue, Johnson Cummins writes: "Newman has just released his first debut record." What's next, his second debut record?

» Robear

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