Thoughts on Discrimination and Anti-Racism
Voices from the Whirlwind (2013)
The Story Behind the Concert, Part 2
By Joanna Ebbutt
Cantor Charles Osborne
In his post-World War 2 poem I Didn’t Speak Out , the words of Martin Neimöller, a German anti-Nazi theologian and pastor, echoed across the world. That the man who preached this message so widely had once been an ardent Hitler supporter and anti-Semite made his message especially powerful.
Cantor Charles Osborne, based at Toronto’s Temple Sinai, wrote a haunting composition to accompany the words of I Didn’t Speak Out, and it was a highlight of Upper Canada Choristers’ Holocaust Remembrance Concert, Voices from the Whirlwind, performed together with the Temple Sinai Ensemble Choir and the Toronto Jewish Folk Choir in 2013.
During a recent conversation with Charles, the discussion on Voices from the Whirlwind naturally segued into recent events and the ongoing fight for equality and justice – exemplified by Black Lives Matter, the treatment and rights of Canada’s Indigenous peoples, and the blatant rise of Islamophobia. The words of I Didn’t Speak Out are as relevant today as they ever were. Systemic racism and the acts of violence triggered by it, remain indelibly with us – as the recent events in London, Ontario illustrate so tragically.
Charles’ thoughtful perspective on how we came to be where we are now acknowledge the profound impact of the Jim Crow era (when state and local laws in the southern states of the United States enforced racial segregation). However, he believes that the actions of many corporations and politicians over much of the last century, right up to today, make them equally responsible.
Redlining – a planning tool
Introduced in the 1930s, Redlining refers to a systematic denial of various services to specific urban neighbourhoods that were often racially distinctive. In the beginning, red lines were drawn on maps to define which neighbourhoods should be targeted.
Charles cites it as a blatant example of official discrimination at work. It was particularly prevalent in banking, when racially distinctive people were denied loans to buy or renovate their homes. The inevitable result was that only people – largely white – with more money could afford to live in these desirable areas.
Federal legislation introduced in 1968 prohibited home lending discrimination based on race, but the sub-prime fiasco leading up to the 2008 housing crash amounted to redlining in reverse. Many consider redlining to be a key factor behind the gap in wealth between blacks and whites in the U.S. today.
Transportation – another weapon in the toolbox
Between 1938 and 1950, a General Motors subsidiary acquired a number of municipal trolley car systems that were quickly closed down. (This was the background for the 1988 movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, about the proposed demolition of Los Angeles’ mass transit trolley system, the Red Cars.)
The intent – or at least the result – was to free up land (lived in largely by lower-income blacks and Latinos) to develop city freeways that would accommodate buses (replacing the streetcars) and private cars (built by GM). Together the automobile and bus industries pressured whites into the suburbs, forcing them to use buses or buy their own cars for their commute back into town, to work.
According to Charles, one of the worst offenders was Robert Moses, chairman of the New York Port Authority, and one of the most powerful men in the U.S.
“If you look at maps of the Bronx, before and after they built the expressway, you’ll see that they deliberately built it through the centre of every urban centre in the borough. Dummy corporations were set up to buy real estate. Apartments were rented to blacks and Hispanics who were moving into the cities looking for work. With white people moving out into the suburbs, the inner cities became concentrated pockets of extreme poverty where residents were largely black or Latino.”
Desegregation then and now
Paradoxically, this was all happening at the same time as President Truman was desegregating the U.S. military, followed by President Eisenhower, who banned segregation in public schools. However, said Charles, while the politicians were finally trying to desegregate, their efforts were countered by major corporations going the other way.
Fast forward to today, Charles asks rhetorically who is responsible now? He suggests that the actions of brand name corporations and government at all levels still contribute to expectations that cannot be met, and the creation of an ever-growing gap between the haves and have-nots.
“This and the fact we are contending with a global pandemic are both fuelling feelings of incredible dissatisfaction. “
Concert programme
Dialogue is great; action is better.
Charles believes firmly in thinking globally, acting locally, and in the effectiveness of grass-level action.
“About 30 years ago in Boston, a member of my congregation at Temple Emanuel struck up a conversation with someone at the next easel in an adult art class who turned out to be a member of the Massachusetts Avenue Baptist Church in Cambridge. It transpired that the church hosted a soup kitchen two evenings a week. Not exactly rolling in funds, the church was in violation of just about every health and safety code, but the city turned a blind eye, knowing that several hundred people would go hungry twice a week if the pantry was closed.
“As a result of this chance meeting, we partnered with the church on the Project Manna Concert series. The first concert raised enough money to renovate their kitchen and bring the plumbing and wiring up to code. Within ten years we’d raised enough money to replace the whole kitchen and install new toilets. The concert is still going strong and is a great example of positive interpersonal action.
“Here at Temple Sinai, our volunteers are deeply involved in community-focused activities. We set up and help run a school breakfast program, we work with a shelter for youth in need, and we participate in a mobile outreach program that provides food, clothing and conversation to the homeless, six nights a week.
“I find that when you meet and work with all these people from so many different backgrounds and walks of life, you end up becoming friends. Think global, act local still applies.
“Ultimately, I believe that good things come out of the small actions. I also believe we shouldn’t leap to conclusions without doing some research. You should do your own fact-checking as many organizations are counting on your reactions being emotional, and are selective in their “truth-telling”. They provide certain facts, but not all of them, to manipulate the response. Just wait till all facts are available before deciding how you feel about an issue.
“We have some growing up to do as a society, but I don’t think that we are helpless and hopeless. I’m sure we will continue to find realistic ways to reach out to others. As the Jewish faith believes, we should always listen to the wisdom of the heart.”
