KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) – A Colchester councillor has resigned because he no longer wants to put up with racist comments coming from fellow councillors, the Truro Daily News reports.
“It’s a moral decision on my part, I can’t be associated with racism,” Doug MacInnes told reporter Harry Sullivan in a story published on July 18.
What triggered the resignation were Facebook reports on a discussion between councillors Tom Taggart and Lloyd Gibbs, alleged to be about how shooting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, banning the Koran as hate speech and blowing up all mosques would be a good thing.
Taggart and Gibbs deny saying anything about shooting Trudeau or making any racist comments at the time.
“I have Muslim friends,” Gibbs told the Truro Daily News. “I do not hate the Muslim people … I never said anything about the Muslim people. If that’s what they call racist, by speaking out against Sharia law, then I guess I’m a racist.”
Dog–whistle politics is political messaging employing coded language that appears to mean one thing to the general population but has an additional, different or more specific resonance for a targeted subgroup. Wikipedia
MacInnes said his resignation is related not just to this event, but to similar comments by fellow councillors over the years.
He told Sullivan that the whole issue of racism around the council table began approximately three years ago when he heard another councillor making disparaging comments about representatives of the Confederation of Mainland Mi’kmaq.
If you can, please support the Nova Scotia Advocate so that it can continue to cover issues such as poverty, racism, exclusion, workers’ rights and the environment in Nova Scotia. A pay wall is not an option since it would exclude many readers who don’t have any disposable income at all. We rely entirely on one-time donations and a tiny but mighty group of kindhearted monthly sustainers.
If you are mis-educated to worry that the big bad Sharia law is out to get you, you are racist. If you think brown men are after white women, you are racist AND sexist. If you worry that white man is losing power and control over the world today, you are absolutely right. It’s about balancing power and wealth and decision-making equally to all…….you white guys ( and im a white woman) had too much for too long and some are you are mean.
Exactly!