Are we fueling discrimination? reader asks

May 4, 2023 · 0 Comments

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Many years ago the media stuck a microphone Infront of then Mayor John Tory and asked him what he thought about Toronto’s first Black Chief of Police (Mark Saunders) to which Tory should have said,” I didn’t notice.” But, he and everyone else engages into conversation that we should not be encouraging.

Fast forward to now. NASA is sending Artemis 2 (a moon mission) into space next year to circle the moon. It will carry four astronauts, three men and one woman. All very qualified honor roll-type candidates. One of the men is from London, ON, and the other three astronauts are Americans.

One of the American Astronauts is Victor Glover, a 46 year old from California. He was a US Navy fighter pilot with a better record than most of the Top Gun graduates as well as having a Masters in engineering. And when being interviewed on CP24, the TV host’s first question was, “How do you feel being the first Black astronaut going into space?” Unbelievable. That made it sound like he was picked because he was Black and all his incredible accomplishments meant nothing.

I felt so bad for this young man and so mad at the stupid question being asked, but Victor being so qualified and professional, he side-stepped the question and kept the interview going while not engaging into such a stupid question.

We have to learn to be like Ed Sullivan was in the 60s. He was known for being the most colourblind host of any show as every Sunday night he had a one-hour variety show where he so often had Motown bands on his show because “They were so talented” period. We need more Ed Sullivans today

Brian Perras
Caledon