Fighting bullying demands leadership

Pink Shirt Day is not till later this month, but bullying is the topic on people’s minds this week after a violent incident at the Kahnawake Sports Complex involving young children, who recorded and shared it.

How could this happen? This is a question many are asking themselves. And the answers are complicated and multifaceted.

One thing’s for sure, the community’s youngest are like a mirror, and when something like this happens, the first question we should be asking is how the grown-ups have failed them.

This can be a complicated task. After all, thanks to the work of wellness professionals and mental health organizations in town, it’s news to no one that “hurt people hurt people,” and a recognition of the impacts of colonialism and intergenerational trauma are huge components to address for proper community healing.

There are other angles, too, of course. Some might blame the parents. Some might blame the local institutions or other adults involved in the community-wide task of raising the next generation.

Accountability is important, but the organization that was hosting that night’s event, the Kahnawake Youth Center, didn’t publish a public communication addressing what happened or sharing the steps it’ll be taking to combat bullying in the future.

And why is a zero-tolerance policy on bullying at Sports and Recreation facilities in its final stages of development, as the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake wrote in its press release, and not already in place for years in a community that has long promoted Pink Shirt Day?

There are also societal factors that can feed bullying, of course, like the inescapability of social media, or even political discourse.

There are a million and one reasons something like this can happen, but the first thing anyone can and should do is look at themselves and ask what they are doing to stand up for those who can’t always stand up for themselves.

This question was on our minds this week when a community member we know well was attacked via a residency permit application shared on the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake Facebook page.

A couple weeks back, all the Council chiefs posed for Bell Let’s Talk, an initiative that is all about mental health. Yet here they are handing people a platform to bully a community member who is well known to have special needs – in fact, he has often written about these struggles in this very newspaper.

This particular application was from a community member through and through, someone who has fought for acceptance all his life.

He has been involved in The Eastern Door longer than any of us, and that includes the paper’s first and second owners. And his weekly contribution to The Eastern Door is just one of the ways he has always participated in community life.

This is someone who is known for playing villains in local productions, but who in reality is anything but. He is a thoughtful, kind person who deserves better.

Despite repeated requests from the editor/publisher of this newspaper for the MCK to think about the impacts of giving people free reign to ostracize their fellow community members, especially one with special needs, the vast majority of the comments were preserved alongside a meek reminder from the MCK to behave.

It wasn’t until more push came to shove from The Eastern Door that the Council decided to take out one of the most grotesque comments, one chock-full of lateral violence, ignorance, and racism (against an elder who is a first-language speaker, to boot).

Thankfully, most people defended this person, but that comment was preserved for days amid repeated requests for the MCK to delete it. That comment outright said this person doesn’t belong in town, among other attacks, and it was left up for far too long.

Instead of considering a community member’s mental health and safety, the MCK submitted, once again, to its fear of antagonizing Kahnawake’s boot-em-out-first ask-questions-later contingent. Perhaps there is some like-mindedness at play. Perhaps they are just cowards with no heart.

Even if you agree with the residency law, no one has any right to spew hatred against anyone else, regardless of their background. The MCK failing to see this means Mr. Magoo is running the show. But even Mr. Magoo had more of a heart.

Thankfully, they finally did the right thing. But even how long it took and how many angles they had to take on it before deciding the comment was lateral violence shows that there is no place for a comments section for notices like these.

The person writing that awful comment presented their view as their “5 cents,” but we don’t think the hatefulness they expressed is worth two cents, as a more humble person might put it, or even a penny, let alone space on a community platform.

Think about it, telling someone whose roots are here, who has been open with their battles searching for belonging while being on the autism spectrum, who has dedicated themselves to being a part of community life, contributing to their community paper, acting in community plays, picking up the community’s trash year after year on Spring Cleanup day, volunteering at the blood drive - telling that person, and others like them, that they don’t belong here?

It’s hate and rejection that should have no place in Kahnawake.

People may present exclusion as a way of fighting colonialism, but it’s actually the opposite when people go out of their way to reject fellow Kanien’kehá:ka as “other.” At some point, there will be no one left.

But haters are going to hate, that’s no secret. What’s really objectionable is MCK trying to have it both ways.

Why are community members with hate on their fingertips given a platform to express scorn and rejection to people who have no other community but this one to call their own?

Why does the MCK even allow comments on posts like these, about an individual who has no authority, office, or power, but is simply seeking a permit affirming they have the right to be here.

And when these problems come to their attention, why isn’t Council brave enough to stand up and say enough is enough without being harangued to do so?

If people’s views don’t align with someone’s residency application, they are entitled to express their objection in the proper forum. But that forum should not be the MCK’s Facebook page, full stop.

Make no mistake, this is bullying through and through. It doesn’t take much empathy or compassion to see that.

And a future for Kahnawake free from bullying? Without real leadership with conviction and honour, who can shut out the drivel from the usual suspects and do what’s right, we’re far from that indeed.

TED Staff