From our bulging Go Back Where You Came From File, Barbara Kay writes:
During the academic year of 2002-2003 Miriam started to encounter anti-Semitic taunts from students, such as “Does someone see a Jew here, someone smell a Jew? It stinks here.” When she reported this and similar insults to the principal, the principal did not follow up. Indeed, the principal seemed more concerned about the students’ sensibilities than hers.
The principal instructed teachers not to offend their Muslim students; they were not to look students in the eye, they were not to gesture with the forefinger to bid them approach and they were not to interfere with male students who were physically aggressive to male teachers.
During the invasion of Iraq, moments of silence were held in the classroom. Cultural presentations involved only Muslim culture and no Canadian content. Students were allowed to leave assembly during the playing of the national anthem.The crisis of this story occurred when Miriam admonished a student for wearing a Walkman in class. The student screamed at her: “I don’t have to listen to you; you are not a person, you are nothing, you do not exist as a person.” When Miriam demanded he accompany her to the principal’s office, the student followed her down the hall yelling, “Don’t speak to me, don’t look at me, you are not human, you are a Jew.”
Although the student was ultimately suspended for 10 days, his parents expressed puzzlement about the punishment since, they patiently explained, the teacher was after all Jewish. (…)
She contacted the Hate Crime Unit of the local police and reported everything. (…)
The School board treated Miriam as the source of the problem and asked her to retire. A top litigator told Miriam she had an excellent case for a lawsuit but fearing for her family’s safety under the glare of publicity, she decided not to sue.
Lest you assume Miriam was paranoid or Islamophobic or that this was an isolated case of a few bad apples: In 2004, the year Miriam left, a full 60 out of 75 francophone teachers asked for a transfer, not because of anti-Semitism but because of anti-Westernism, a growing discomfort in other areas for which anti-Semitism is the proverbial canary in the mine. French-Canadian children had already stopped enrolling and as I understand it, the school is now virtually all-Muslim, including the teachers and principal.
***
During the invasion of Iraq, I was working at a very famous charity in Toronto. The graphic designer sent around an email “suggesting” that we all go over to the new Iraqi “refugee” hire and give her our “condolences”.
I emailed back wondering if we’d be making a similar gesture of concern for the American soldiers who’d volunteered to leave their families and fight and die to liberate the nation her countrymen obviously couldn’t be bothered to liberate themselves.
My contract was not renewed.
I do that wherever I work. At the last place, they announced a big assembly about “global warming,” so I asked if there would be one the following week about Bigfoot.
Arnie hates it, but I hate working for other people anyway, so it all works out great!
Anyhow:
Someone forwarded Barbara Kay’s column to me, along with suggestion for “how to fight back” like… writing letters!!
I forgot to mention “homeschooling” and “paying as little in taxes, fines and other government money grabs as possible” in my reply, but it is still pretty good.
Which means it will be totally ignored:
Your suggestions are fine up to a point but…
The real problem is… people like Miriam. At the end of the day, they just want to live a quiet life and collect their pensions.
She should have spoken up, gone public and sued. Otherwise she is part of the problem.
She says she was “worried for her family’s safety.” Then she should have bought a gun (while it is still possible to do so legally). The (forgive me) Jewish aversion to firearms and physical self defense remains a _serious_ problem.
Politicians don’t matter. Newspapers don’t matter. Writing letters and signing petitions merely gives us the illusion that we are “doing something.” And they we wonder why the problem persists.
We do need to fight political correctness, personally, not by outsourcing the fight to politicians and newspapers and union bosses or whoever.
This year, say Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah even if it violates your company’s policy. Don’t just stay quiet at holiday gatherings when someone says something troubling or offensive. Stop whispering all the time! Stop being polite. Stop just quoting Pastor Neimoller and Rabbi Hillel and DO something.
(It would also be nice if, the next time 3000 angry Muslims take to the streets of Toronto as they did in January, uttering death threats against Jewish children in front of police and NOT getting arrested, if the counter protesters were more than just a dozen Jews and one shiksa (me.))
They can’t fire us all. They can’t arrest us all. They can’t take us all to the Human Rights Commissions. **** them!
The ONLY way this madness will end is if individual people are willing to risk their ‘lives, fortunes and sacred honor.’ Otherwise we are all just muttering and tsking yet another day about how bad things are.
Typical sucky Canadians who will get what we deserved.
