Dear readers Montreal Journal And Quebec newspaperi love you
You know I want to condemn too much political correctness, and you keep sending me the heart-wrenching examples you collect for me.
Every week, I find new examples of positive discrimination in the cultural context.
Music to their ears
A reader, a SOCAN member musician, sent me a copy of the email he received last week.
1- Canadian Black Music Award. The award was created with the aim of celebrating the best work of black music creators with Canadian citizenship and was created in response to the high racial tensions that plagued the early 2020s and issues surrounding systemic racism in our communities.
2- Indigenous Songwriter Award. The award recognizes artistic excellence in the work of an Indigenous songwriter in Canada and is an important part of the SOCAN Foundation’s efforts to inspire, celebrate and inspire Indigenous music creators.
3- The Elles de la Musique Awards aim to celebrate and support mid-career Canadian female music creators who identify as women and want to take their careers to the next level.
So if you’re not black, not female, not tribal, bye bye, sayonara, you can’t apply for any award.
On the Cinema/Television page, a reader just sent me this press release from INIS. “Students in the MixDay program began an intensive six-month training on Monday, during which they will explore a range of genres and audiovisual formats, from documentaries to fiction series.
The training is supported by Netflix and is reserved for people who are racist, people who identify with visible minorities, and Aboriginal people.
Finally, another reader informed me that the Canadian Association of Journalists offers mentoring for budding journalists on BIPOC (abbreviated Black, Indigenous, Peoples/Black, Indigenous and People of Colour). This guide (which aims to give them advice on how to build a wider resource network) is provided by Noor Javed, a veiled woman who covers municipal politics in Toronto.
Many things bother me…
Do you need to self-identify as a woman to submit your nomination for a prize reserved for women?
Is self-identification as a visible minority enough to benefit from an internship?
Can only minority women provide professional counseling to minorities?
What message do you think this sends to young people who dare to be born white?
Live-apart
But where has “Living Together” gone if organizations and institutions spend their time assigning us an identity? Reducing ourselves to one aspect of our personality? Locking everyone into our own little “community” where we only interact with members of the same “community”?
Women on one side, men on the other? “BIPOC” on one side, white people on the other?
One last question: If anyone can self-identify with a minority identity to benefit from internships, training, or interesting jobs, why shouldn’t we all self-identify as oppressed minorities?
“Pop culture practitioner. Award-winning tv junkie. Creator. Devoted food geek. Twitter lover. Beer enthusiast.”
