(e)mergent Voyageurs

As most of you are probably aware from this blog, Harry Lehotsky was a friend and hero of mine. His columns, like his life choices, represented examples of his courage and commitment to our city, especially in our inner city West End community. However, in his columns (again like in his choices) he was very human. In order to be as bold as Harry was, he also (and self-admittedly) put his foot in his mouth from time to time. I think the following post is a small reflection of this.

In the end, I do not think this column was helpful to the issue. Had I written, I would have taken a different tact. However, in addition to reading the important truths beyond the failures, it also protects us from viewing Harry anything more than a human being, prone to mistakes. If we fail to do so, we could convince ourselves that his example is an exception, not able to be followed. As Dorothy Day once said, “Don’t call me a saint. I don’t want to be dismissed so easily”.

A Racist Fart?
February 6, 2005 – Winnipeg Sun
by Harry Lehotsky CM

Have you ever heard the phrase, “Maybe he that smelt it, dealt it.” … ?

As kids growing up, we develop all kinds of survival and coping skills. One of the more humorous deals with farting.

Have you ever farted in a room (or bus, or subway) full of people? Perhaps it was one of those unconscious odoriferous flatulations that slips out before you think to try to stop it. Or maybe you knowingly let loose, gambling that it would be silent and scentless. Then, to your dismay, it turns out to be neither.

In a few seconds, you know people will be wrinkling their noses and seeking the culprit. Thinking fast, you launch a pre-emptive strike. “Aw, man! Who farted?”

You know you’re the culprit, but by asking the question out loud you hope to exclude yourself from the list of suspects. People will be busy casting accusing glances at each other, thinking, “It can’t be him, since he asked the question.”

One of my buddies pulled the trick so often it ceased to distract us. We saw through the smoke. After awhile, we just turned to him and suggested, “He that smelt it, dealt it.”

And the phrase wasn’t unique to our little group in New York. People everywhere seem to be familiar with the phrase.

More recently, however, I’ve come to believe that phrase may apply to more than farting. Like maybe when someone starts accusing others of racism.

Sometimes it’s wise to examine the claimant as well as the claim.

Over 25 years of community work, I’ve met lots of ethnocentric activists. These folk are typically paid, elected or self-appointed to be advocates for “their” people.

They forcefully articulate the strengths and needs of their people. That’s fine. But, in the process of this ethno-centric advocacy, they articulate those needs and strengths in opposition to, and at the expense of, all other people of all other cultures.

Some ethno-centric activists, whether white, aboriginal, Asian or African-American start to sound amazingly similar.

They spout variations of, “My culture is better than your culture.” … “Your culture is keeping us down.”

What they mean is, “I won’t admit or explain the weaknesses or deficiencies of my culture to you. And besides, if there are any serious problems in my culture, those are due to the pollution caused by other cultures.”

The ‘R’ card

Some activists often play something called the ‘R’ card. This refers to the tendency of some to shout “racism!” whenever there is danger of losing an argument or funding proposal.

Sometimes the ‘R’ card is played by folks who never seem to show up in the news other than when they’re accusing someone else of racism.

Media reports are replete with stereotypical examples of activists who, when pressed on issues of accountability or personal responsibility, automatically play the ‘R’ card.

For a small but vocal minority of activists, personal culpability for one’s problems is consistently swept under the carpet of socio-political-economic explanations for destructive behaviour.

Abdication of responsibility is a personal problem, not a cultural characteristic.

I don’t deny the deleterious impact of generational poverty, residential schools, sexual abuse, loss of traditional culture or bad parenting. These are factors which have far-reaching and long-lasting impact.

But I am not a determinist. I believe that people of every race are more than the sum total of their deficits or victimizations.

Those victimizations are not the sole or immediate cause of all personal or social problems.

Most people willingly acknowledge that an explanation is not the same as an excuse.

When blaming the victim is replaced by blaming the victimization, we’re no closer to lasting change. Both extremes facilitate denial of one’s own responsibilities.

When the only way to advocate for “your” people is to pretend they’re culturally and morally superior to everyone else, isn’t that racism?

When people are organized around self-pity, anger and blaming others who don’t share your skin colour, isn’t that a form of racism?

When cops are so quickly accused, while criminals are so routinely excused — isn’t that racism, too?

I wish the ethnocentric activists would grab a clue! All this propensity to blindly accuse others of racism actually backfires. It perpetuates the prejudice they seek to avoid from others.

In one funding meeting an activist commented, “After all your people have done to my people, you have no right to talk to me about accountability or paperwork.”

They may as well have said, “Just give me the money or I’ll call you a racist.”

In another meeting, an activist commented, “I am offended that cops keep arresting my people!

“Look at the prisons. It’s obvious they’re picking on us.”

I wondered if he was suggesting that some crimes committed by “his people” shouldn’t be enforced or prosecuted until there’s fewer of “his people” in prison?

Human rights

On a more personal note, I’m surprised at the sensitivity regarding human rights from some individuals who so regularly profess disdain for my person, my colour and my faith at community meetings.

I’ve learned that racists come in all colours and exist in all cultures. What they share in common is the conviction that they have a valid reason for their prejudices, an excuse for their racial bias.

I’m thinking the lesson learned in my childhood may still apply.

When somebody says, “Who farted!” my first reflex is still to check if “he that smelt it dealt it.”

Similarly, the next time somebody screams, “Racism!” I won’t dismiss the possibility that “he that smelt it dealt it.”

Emerging Church, Missional