GotZoom
Senior Member
I know it's Canada but the overall sentiment is the same.
------
A motion to rename Black History Month in Toronto public schools was withdrawn yesterday after a groundswell of opposition from trustees and black community leaders.
The motion would have designated February as Heritage Month. The trustee behind the motion, Scott Harrison (Scarborough Centre), said he wanted to ensure other national and cultural groups didn't feel left out.
But when fellow trustees told him he had no political support, he decided to withdraw it from last night's agenda.
"Too many people have taken it the wrong way, my colleagues included," Mr. Harrison said before the meeting. "For whatever reason, many people have got their backs up thinking that I'm taking something away, and that was never my intent."
He said his intention was to honour the board's equity policy, and reach out to other groups.
Trustee Chris Bolton (Trinity-Spadina) said he's relieved the motion was withdrawn. "I still think to some extent the damage has already been done. He's already got people riled up," he said.
"It never should have made it on to the books in the first place. I think it's inconsistent with the culture of the Toronto District School Board. I'm all for freedom of speech and that kind of thing but there are limits to what we should be working on. This is not a positive, this is not productive. This is derailing and demeaning."
During the past two days, Mr. Harrison said, he received more than 40 e-mails from people opposed to his motion. He said most originated with the Urban Alliance on Race Relations.
Michelle Cho, who works for the Toronto Coalition for Equity in Education, a group funded by the urban alliance , said Mr. Harrison's motion would have been a step in the wrong direction.
"We were encouraging the board to reject the motion because we saw it as contributing further to the alienation of the black community," Ms. Cho said.
Mr. Harrison said he still intends to pursue the idea of a Heritage Month, and he has spoken about it to his parent council and non-white school principals in his district who agreed that all communities should feel included in heritage celebrations.
Mr. Bolton, however, said the idea would be better left alone.
"We are basically on the cusp of being able to triple the number of black culture programs that we can offer across the city for kids in elementary school," Mr. Bolton said.
"To be able to encourage them to understand their place in the community. . . . If they can see themselves and their culture within the community then they can understand their place in Canada."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060309.HISTORY09/TPStory/TPNational/
------
A motion to rename Black History Month in Toronto public schools was withdrawn yesterday after a groundswell of opposition from trustees and black community leaders.
The motion would have designated February as Heritage Month. The trustee behind the motion, Scott Harrison (Scarborough Centre), said he wanted to ensure other national and cultural groups didn't feel left out.
But when fellow trustees told him he had no political support, he decided to withdraw it from last night's agenda.
"Too many people have taken it the wrong way, my colleagues included," Mr. Harrison said before the meeting. "For whatever reason, many people have got their backs up thinking that I'm taking something away, and that was never my intent."
He said his intention was to honour the board's equity policy, and reach out to other groups.
Trustee Chris Bolton (Trinity-Spadina) said he's relieved the motion was withdrawn. "I still think to some extent the damage has already been done. He's already got people riled up," he said.
"It never should have made it on to the books in the first place. I think it's inconsistent with the culture of the Toronto District School Board. I'm all for freedom of speech and that kind of thing but there are limits to what we should be working on. This is not a positive, this is not productive. This is derailing and demeaning."
During the past two days, Mr. Harrison said, he received more than 40 e-mails from people opposed to his motion. He said most originated with the Urban Alliance on Race Relations.
Michelle Cho, who works for the Toronto Coalition for Equity in Education, a group funded by the urban alliance , said Mr. Harrison's motion would have been a step in the wrong direction.
"We were encouraging the board to reject the motion because we saw it as contributing further to the alienation of the black community," Ms. Cho said.
Mr. Harrison said he still intends to pursue the idea of a Heritage Month, and he has spoken about it to his parent council and non-white school principals in his district who agreed that all communities should feel included in heritage celebrations.
Mr. Bolton, however, said the idea would be better left alone.
"We are basically on the cusp of being able to triple the number of black culture programs that we can offer across the city for kids in elementary school," Mr. Bolton said.
"To be able to encourage them to understand their place in the community. . . . If they can see themselves and their culture within the community then they can understand their place in Canada."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060309.HISTORY09/TPStory/TPNational/
