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| Michael Regenstreif, Editor |
By
Michael Regenstreif
Editor
No matter what one may feel about the
policies of “The Squad,” four women of colour elected in 2018 to their first
terms in the United States Congress, or even the antisemitic tropes that were
tweeted by one of them, there was no denying the explicit racism employed by
U.S. President Donald Trump in his attacks on them last month.
“So interesting to
see ‘Progressive’ Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose
governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and
inept anywhere in the world (if they even have a functioning government at
all), now loudly and viciously telling the people of the United States, the
greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run.
Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested
places from which they came,” Trump tweeted on July 14.
And that was only
the beginning of Trump’s tweet storm.
Just for the record, three of the four congresswomen Trump was attacking
– Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib – were born in
the United States. The fourth, Ilhan Omar, was born in Somalia and was brought
to the U.S. legally as a refugee when she was a child. Omar became an American
citizen in 2000 when she was 17.
By the way,
earlier this year when Jewish organizations and congressional colleagues came
down hard on Omar for employing antisemitic tropes in criticizing Israeli
government policies toward the Palestinians, she did apologize for them – even
writing an op-ed in the Washington Post describing Israel as the “historical
homeland” of the Jews and reiterating her support for a two-state solution to
the conflict, calling for “internationally recognized borders, which allow for
both Israelis and Palestinians to have their own sanctuaries and
self-determination.”
So, while Omar did come to understand why Jewish people were hurt by her
words, and apologized for them, Trump has shown no such understanding.
Even leaders of
some of the U.S.’s closest allies took the unusual step of calling out the
American president for remarks he made about domestic political opponents.
“The prime
minister’s view is that the language used to refer to these women was completely
unacceptable,” said the spokesperson for then-prime minister Theresa May of the
United Kingdom.
German Chancellor
Angela Merkel said she rejects Trump’s racist comments and stands in solidarity
with the congresswomen he targeted.
“That is not how
we do things in Canada. A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian, and the
diversity of our country is actually one of our greatest strengths and a source
of tremendous resilience and pride for Canadians, and we will continue to
defend that,” said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Trudeau’s comments
were inspiring to hear at that time. Our Canadian Jewish community, and so many
other ethnic and religious communities in Canada, have thrived in a country
that takes justified pride in its multiculturalism.
But, and it’s a
big but, “a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian” is not necessarily true when
Quebec, our second-largest province, encompassing nearly a quarter of our
population, uses the notwithstanding clause to override the Canadian Charter of
Rights and Freedoms to prevent people working in the public sector from wearing
kippot, hijabs, turbans and other expressions of religious belief, including
Stars of David.
For example,
Minister of National Defence Harjit Sajjan is a Sikh whose religion mandates
that he wear a turban – a turban that he wears in the House of Commons, a
turban that he wore as a Canadian military officer serving on deployments to
Bosnia and Herzegovina and three times to Afghanistan, and a turban he wore
during an 11-year career as a Vancouver police officer and detective. Now,
though, because of that turban, Sajjan cannot be a police officer in Quebec.
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