Being forced to admit that Decoste and Anderson have legitimate grievances, but finding fault now with the messanger still. Do you even hear yourselves???

Koul is a koward. She bashes her challengers in public, and yet requests for them to respond in private. It doesn’t take a genius to see that pattern. Koul repeatedly refused to respond to Decoste’s legitimate questions on the buzzfeed article, trying to failing to bate-switch to other topics. Answering the questions would reveal Koul’s skin privilege — which was the kernel of the discourse.

«I would never engage with her in a non-public forum because she fails to create a safe and fair environment off social media.»

This is probably why Decoste or Anderson didn’t engage Koul in private. Yet Koul’s Kamp (Anon Annoyed Jan 11) is blind, deaf and dumb to legitimate action and reaction to Koul’s tactics.

Saying that you advocate for women should not be interpreted as “against racial minorities”, especially when the person in question IS a racial minority. This isn’t legitimate criticism. It’s just petty nonsense that keeps everyone back. Hell, South Asian women probably are more demonized and less represented than other women of color in many platforms.

When the world demands that women be silent, apologize, be sweet, never make a mistake or else fall into the angel/whore dichotomy, it’d be really great if feminism didn’t demand that, as well. It’d be great if one could succeed as a woman without feminists tearing one down. It’d be great if when handsome, rich, male celebrities tried on feminism for an accessory we didn’t moon over them as icons for the movement before trashing every woman who has any kind of voice. Or, who doesn’t. Sometimes the anger machine just turns on random people with a handful of online followers and no power at all.

What was Koul supposed to do? Say, “I’m not a woman of color”? Deny her heritage? Apologize before she speaks? Quit her job so that someone else can have it? I mean, what criticism is there other than, “She looks a certain way in the body she was born with, so I hate her and she must now give up her ethnicity!” Um… okay.
Well, maybe I think the people who are privileged enough to hang out online all day should give up their rights to claim oppression, then, if we’re allowed to be arbitrary. After all, this focus on online activism alienates all the many, many people too poor to access computers with frequency, or who live without the infrastructure needed for internet, or who work backbreaking hours in manual labor jobs and can’t keep up with that hashtag is trendy and what is not “problematic” (aka trendy last week, and now no longer hip with the kids). OR, maybe we can stop attacking women. That’d be best.

I know that if I enter into a feminist circle to talk about any abuse I have experienced, women with more money than I have ever had, and more voice than I have ever had, will tell me to begin each sentence with “I am sorry”. I am sorry for being skinnier than this woman, and younger than that woman, and for my hair color, and for my skin color, and on and on.

I get it. You get a power rush from calling people out and driving them from any media presence. But, it’s not feminist. It’s just cyber bullying. And, it gives every anti-feminist critic ammunition.

On the topic of grievances, I’ll concede that they are real. The problem is that people like Anderson tend to cloud and muddy the waters with their behaviour. It’s very difficult to support Septembre or take her seriously when she starts to sound off about how awful white people are. That doesn’t help anyone, least of all her. What blows me away is that, as far as I can tell, she hasn’t clued into that.

I agree people like Decoste and Anderson are problematic, but most of their grievances are not just merely perceived. They are very, very real. People of colour, especially trans folk and women, are subject to all kinds of prejudice in media, when applying for jobs, when going to an airport, and so on. If you take the time to read about the advent of carding, or the treatment of sex workers, in Toronto, you will see what I mean.

And it is people like Cole, Domise, and Munira Abukar that have educated me on these issues. Frustrations with people like Decoste and Anderson should not be for the content of their grievances, but instead on how they go about them. Don’t allow them to reduce the credibility of entirely legitimate social justice movements.

Identity politics are of major importance, but people like Anderson and Decoste contribute little substance, often devolve into abusive online bullies, and therefore stand in great contrast to people like Desmond Cole and Andray Domise. That being said, I have listened to Canadaland Commons since day 1 and have never understood why Anderson is even welcome there.