I have been enormously bothered by the re-writing of history surrounding the Freedomites reign of terror. Orthodox and Independent Doukhobors, the primary victims of the terror, have been written out of the story.
Attached is a news story you might find interesting about an indigenous woman who taught at a Doukhobor school in the Kootenays in the 1930s.
Over the course of 3 years, the school was burned down, then rebuilt, destroyed in a dynamite attack, rebuilt again at the expense of Orthodox Doukhobors who wanted to educate their children, then attacked at least two more times with homemade bombs.
On one occasion a bomb went off 20 feet away from the young teachers. All perpetrated by the Freedomites, of course.
This kind of story is not an outlier. People can make what they will of the government’s decisions, but they should at least have the full background.
The Freedomites caused millions of dollars in damage. But the psychic trauma and mental anguish the Freedomites inflicted on others, and even their own children, is impossible to quantify.
Thank you, Terry. I let the paywall lapse for a couple of weeks, but then I realized I would miss out on stories I cannot get anywhere else. Thank you for your work. I don't always agree with you, but that would be a dumb reason to miss out on your best stuff.
Mr. Glavin I'm not singling you out. I say this to everyone who quotes Martin Luther King about "content of character".
MLK in his 1963 "I have a dream" speech was speaking about his dream that his four young (black, of course) children would grow up in an America where they were judged not by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character. In the context of that speech and from his later speeches and writing, it's clear that by "their" he means *his* children, and by extension all black children. Not all people in general. He wanted compensatory race privilege for black people *in order* that they would get a chance to have their character assessed instead of being immediately rejected because black. He was much in favour of hiring quotas and other special advantages for black people to compensate them for then-present and past injustices. In order to apply race-based quotas you have to look at skin colour to the exclusion of character but that was OK as long as it worked in favour of blacks and against whites and other races instead of the other way round. (Canadian Human Rights law is oriented in the same way today.)
MLK was anything but colour-blind. Conservatives liked to get up the noses of liberals in the U.S. during the Supreme Court hearings on affirmative action, trying to say that MLK's "content of character" belief would have caused the great liberal hero to oppose AA. Exasperated liberal supporters of AA eventually had to say themselves that this was a misreading of MLK's views and he was an enthusiastic advocate of affirmative action that gave blacks advantages over whites and all other races. Content of character be damned. Maybe someday over the rainbow the former slave would sit down with the former slave-owner and share the promise of America. But there was some gettin' to be got and scores to be settled first.
I find it so hard to fathom that a head librarian could be fired for such innocuous observations. Something that, pre-2010's, would have received a reply akin to, 'No shit, Sherlock'. Those people have indeed fallen for the Illusion of Division, the subject of Monica Harris' new book and her brilliant TedTalk, https://youtu.be/KDjVFv3_c_g?si=47CJ-IH5AaRVKcbn. And, those same detractors have labelled her 'right wing'....literally, wtf!!?? I just honestly hope that those ordinary Canadians who don't follow politics, who just focus on keeping their head down to get through the day, have learned that those labels have little to no value in today's rhetoric loaded language.
I'm also really looking forward to tomorrow's post. Having grown up on the East side of Canada (in which anything west of Ontario felt like another world) I had never heard of the Doukhobors.
Looking forward to reading your next article. My mom grew up in Nelson and as a member of another minority group in the Kootenays, she often shared stories when I was growing up of sadness and hope about the treatment of the Doukhobor Community, recognizing the layered levels of bigotry for "others" in the 30s and 40s.
Your work is worth waiting for. Peace
I do remember the 50s, 60s and 70s.
I will definitely read this issue.
I am looking forward to this piece, Terry.
I have been enormously bothered by the re-writing of history surrounding the Freedomites reign of terror. Orthodox and Independent Doukhobors, the primary victims of the terror, have been written out of the story.
Attached is a news story you might find interesting about an indigenous woman who taught at a Doukhobor school in the Kootenays in the 1930s.
Over the course of 3 years, the school was burned down, then rebuilt, destroyed in a dynamite attack, rebuilt again at the expense of Orthodox Doukhobors who wanted to educate their children, then attacked at least two more times with homemade bombs.
On one occasion a bomb went off 20 feet away from the young teachers. All perpetrated by the Freedomites, of course.
This kind of story is not an outlier. People can make what they will of the government’s decisions, but they should at least have the full background.
The Freedomites caused millions of dollars in damage. But the psychic trauma and mental anguish the Freedomites inflicted on others, and even their own children, is impossible to quantify.
https://www.castlegarnews.com/community/teacher-of-doukhobor-children-profiled-in-new-book-4724804
Thank you, Terry. I let the paywall lapse for a couple of weeks, but then I realized I would miss out on stories I cannot get anywhere else. Thank you for your work. I don't always agree with you, but that would be a dumb reason to miss out on your best stuff.
Thanks Terry! Hope you get your bike out soon.
Take your time and rest a little.
Mr. Glavin I'm not singling you out. I say this to everyone who quotes Martin Luther King about "content of character".
MLK in his 1963 "I have a dream" speech was speaking about his dream that his four young (black, of course) children would grow up in an America where they were judged not by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character. In the context of that speech and from his later speeches and writing, it's clear that by "their" he means *his* children, and by extension all black children. Not all people in general. He wanted compensatory race privilege for black people *in order* that they would get a chance to have their character assessed instead of being immediately rejected because black. He was much in favour of hiring quotas and other special advantages for black people to compensate them for then-present and past injustices. In order to apply race-based quotas you have to look at skin colour to the exclusion of character but that was OK as long as it worked in favour of blacks and against whites and other races instead of the other way round. (Canadian Human Rights law is oriented in the same way today.)
MLK was anything but colour-blind. Conservatives liked to get up the noses of liberals in the U.S. during the Supreme Court hearings on affirmative action, trying to say that MLK's "content of character" belief would have caused the great liberal hero to oppose AA. Exasperated liberal supporters of AA eventually had to say themselves that this was a misreading of MLK's views and he was an enthusiastic advocate of affirmative action that gave blacks advantages over whites and all other races. Content of character be damned. Maybe someday over the rainbow the former slave would sit down with the former slave-owner and share the promise of America. But there was some gettin' to be got and scores to be settled first.
I find it so hard to fathom that a head librarian could be fired for such innocuous observations. Something that, pre-2010's, would have received a reply akin to, 'No shit, Sherlock'. Those people have indeed fallen for the Illusion of Division, the subject of Monica Harris' new book and her brilliant TedTalk, https://youtu.be/KDjVFv3_c_g?si=47CJ-IH5AaRVKcbn. And, those same detractors have labelled her 'right wing'....literally, wtf!!?? I just honestly hope that those ordinary Canadians who don't follow politics, who just focus on keeping their head down to get through the day, have learned that those labels have little to no value in today's rhetoric loaded language.
I'm also really looking forward to tomorrow's post. Having grown up on the East side of Canada (in which anything west of Ontario felt like another world) I had never heard of the Doukhobors.
Looking forward to the read...thanks Terry.
Looking forward to reading your next article. My mom grew up in Nelson and as a member of another minority group in the Kootenays, she often shared stories when I was growing up of sadness and hope about the treatment of the Doukhobor Community, recognizing the layered levels of bigotry for "others" in the 30s and 40s.