Statement from the Coalition of Racialized Workers on the International Day for the Elimination of Racism
This past week is a stark reminder of why the commemoration of March 21, 1960, when police opened fire on Black unarmed people protesting pass laws killing 69 of them.
The pass laws were described in an edition of Time Magazine in 1960 as “almost a physical shackle”
Today and so many years after the abhorrent incident, The Coalition of Racialized workers decries the massacre of 50 racialized people who gathered in two Mosques to pray in Christchurch New Zealand this past week. The massacre was filmed by the self described white supremacist and the world could see in real time what racism can and does lead to.
The Coalition also decries the plight of migrant workers in Ontario, whose working conditions hearken back to the times of chattel slavery, certainly a legacy of such times and such evil conditions were highlighted at our inaugural conference at the beginning of March, 2019.
Again in this past week two Black OPS workers have alleged racism and white supremacy against two unions and the OPS which has resulted in a claim at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. The press release detailed the targeted abuse and dehumanization, sustained by power and privilege.
The Coalition of Racialized Workers (OPSEU) commiserates and stands with the people of New Zealand at its darkest hour and the violent exhibition of Islamophobia and deliberate mass killing of 50 people who were at Mosques praying in Christ Church
We recognise that it is very important to continue to uphold the ideals of this day to ensure that racism and white supremacy is highlighted and challenged effectively everywhere and in every shape shifting form it presents, either through the barrels of guns or through weaponised policies, laws, and or practices that seek to exclude Black and racialized communities from the bounds of respectability and humanity.
No one can deny the despicable and horrible examples of the socio-geographical evil in just one week and on different continents
The Coalition will continue to support those victims and fight against white supremacy, working towards the elimination racism by keeping abreast of these situations and doing so much more
Even though we commemorate and commiserate on this day, it is the reason why the Coalition exists and the Coalition will continue to have to those conversations in all corridors of power to do the barrier removal work.
Today, we are hosting workers from the OPS and their lawyer to sow support for them in their battle fighting racism in the workplaces and their unions.
The Coalition of Racialized Workers will continue to fight racism in all forms of racism in the communities, boardrooms and the society at large. And there is so much that you can do too!
Please check out the urls below, as they are very useful tools
Let’s Fight Racism!
https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2019/03/15/new-zealand-mosque-attacks-fuelled-by-a-familiar-hatred.html
Passed over, bullied, mistaken for janitorial staff. Black women sue Ontario public service alleging systemic racism | The Star
Calls for reform after Ontario migrant workers claim they worked in terrible conditions