— Feature, Musings —08.01.2023 07:08 PM
My latest: Erica Ifill is a bigot
Bigot.
That word – along with its corollaries, racist, sexist, hater, et al. – get thrown around a lot, of course. It happens so often, these days, that those words have lost all meaning. Like they say: if everyone is a racist, then no one is a racist.
But Erica Ifill keeps at it, just the same.
To Erica, seemingly, everyone who isn’t like her – that is, a person with dark skin – is less than her. She’s been preaching division for years now, on social media and behind a paywall at The Hill Times. She calls herself “an award-winning anti-oppression journalist and economist.”
Full disclosure: I happily wrote for The Hill Times for years. When I was there, my editor was mainly Kate Malloy. Kate and I agreed that Hill Times columnists were not allowed to take cheap shots at each other, in the paper or elsewhere. But if an occasion arose where criticism was merited, then the target would get a head’s up.
Other media have the same rule. When Ezra Levant and I did commentary at the Sun News Network, for example, we promised we wouldn’t go after each other – even though we didn’t particularly like each other. And we didn’t.
Despite that, I picked up the Hill Times one morning, where I found a column Erica Ifill had written about me. Among other things, she said I was toxic, unethical, disloyal, and that I had never “lived up to any modicum of respectable conduct.” And so on. Pretty good zingers, if not terribly original.
And then, she said I was a racist.
Given that I’ve spent most of my adult life documenting and opposing racism, that one was over the line – particularly coming from a newspaper I wrote for, and published without the courtesy of a head’s up. So I quit, and I haven’t looked at the Hill Times since.
Until this week, that is. This week, Erica unburdened herself of some opinions that – if the world was still in any way sane – would see her losing her gigs at the Hill Times, Canadaland, CBC and the like. She won’t, but she should.
When Bingo, a Toronto police dog was allegedly shot by one Kenneth Grant – the day after Grant allegedly shot and killed one Sophonias Haile in Etobicoke – Ifill was unmoved. Here’s what she put on Twitter (as it was then known):
“It’s amazing to me how white people show more compassion to animals than to people on the street. You people are reprehensible.” She then posted a graphic of a white person and a dog, mouth on mouth. It even looked sort of sexual. “WHITE PEOPLE BEFORE THEY LEAVE THE HOUSE,” the graphic read.
Can you imagine what would happen if a white columnist at the The Hill Times said that about black people?
Anyway. People were outraged, of course, because what the Hill Times columnist posted was insane. But she wouldn’t back down. She posted a “study” that read, in part: “The use of dogs as tools of oppression against African Americans has its roots in slavery and persists today in everyday life.”
“Slavery.” And here we simply thought that a dog had been shot and killed: turns out the dog deserved it, because slavery. So said Erica, who wrote: “F*ck Bingo. Guess he ran out of luck.” She then posted a smiling emoticon.
And, even then, she would’t concede that she had gone too far. “Free speech is for white people and white feelings only,” she declared. She’d experienced a “whitelash,” she said. She was “glad y’all are offended,” she said.
For the Hill Times’ Erica Ifill, all of this is great fun. A giggle. She calls white people racist all the time. She has suggested that “white people” have “a Nazi phase.” That Canada was “built on white supremacy and the fascism of right-wing, Christian dogma.” That Canada has “white supremacist and seditious elements within.”
Even the Justin Trudeau government is white supremacist, apparently: “When it comes to racism and white supremacy, this country continues to be two-faced. While the Trudeau government denounces white supremacist extremism at home, it meets with them in the dark.”
And so on, and so on. When you hear that Erica celebrated the death of Queen Elizabeth – a woman who “bathed in the blood of my ancestors” – well, none of this stuff is particularly shocking anymore.
It is, however, the sort of anti-white racism and black supremacy upon which Louis Farrakhan built his Nation of Islam empire. It is dishonest and damaging and divisive.
It is also the sort of thing you hear from bigots.
Like Erica Ifill.
[Kinsella is the author of the bestselling Web of Hate, and the leader of the group Standing Together Against Misogyny and Prejudice, which led a successful campaign against a pro-Nazi newspaper in Toronto.]
I wonder if she has weighed in on Bilkszto.
Never heard of her.
I love my dog.
.. she called you a racist ?
That’s just her hate showing
Nobody can call you a racist
you’re a guy where racism goes & dies
or you just go out and get right after them
I thought this common knowledge.. ?
Its been my experience over the years that in many cases it is dog owners who are the people volunteering at the homeless shelters, the soup kitchens, seniors centres and animal shelters…..and yes. getting out there and being politically active at a civic, provincial and Federal level. Being a responsible dog owner shows commitment, compassion and caring for a sentient being that becomes for the most part, completely dependent upon us.
Often times it is us older single folks who really only have an animal as a companion, that are the ones who have the time, and the inclination to volunteer in the aforementioned areas, and many others areas too numerous to mention here.
As for Ms. Ifill’s insults…….Ive heard far worse from far better people, and I’m sure Mr. Kinsella, you have too.
My two cents.
This. Generally speaking, I don’t even trust people who don’t love dogs. They can be used to help rehabilitate prisoners, many are trained to be therapy dogs, random people of wide ranging political views can bond over them, they can ease loneliness, etc. I likely give 11-12k a year to our local SPCA. But that doesn’t mean I don’t support all kinds of other causes in a big way(both personally and through my firm). One can both love dogs and not be a racist. If she has never owned one(can’t see how she could have), how can she comment on our experience? Should she be allowed to? Isn’t that the go to argument for people like her? Isn’t that what basically killed Bilkszto? She is nuts. But given Bilkszto, there seems to be a lot of that going around these days.
Yes I forgot to add to my comment below that anybody who takes pleasure in the death of a dog is morally defective. She’s an asshole.
Considering the federal government wasted $54 million on a proto-social credit app, I’m okay with a few hundred bucks of municipal/provincial funds going towards a short memorial to a beloved member of the K9 unit who gave his life helping to keep law-abiding citizens safe.
Friends of mine that gave the dog in this article a home:
https://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/2013/02/21/spirit-all-smiles-in-new-home
…sent me this this morning. Total coincidence but on point.
https://itsnotthedog.com/just-a-dog/
“So the next time you hear the phrase “just a dog” just smile… because they “just don’t understand”
The term “racist” lost meaning a long time ago.
Apparently, I was a racist in the 90s because I voted for the Reform Party. In reality, I wanted lower federal spending.
Sadly, it has become a sign of the times that race-baiting grifters (from all backgrounds, I might add) peddle their bile without the slightest degree of shame. It should not be tolerated, but it is. When you sow the wind, you reap the whirlwind. That is why Trump is still in contention my friends.
Warren,
Had no idea who she was until now. Quick, amnesia set in! She’s the type one wants to forget.
She is sure no Gwen Ifill.
Martin,
Bang on.
This is the face of the New Left. Rather than cogent arguments or rational debate, their reflex is to call anyone who resists a racist, or something-phobic. And with folks like Ifill, it goes even further to pre-emptive strikes to keep people on their heels.
The reason they keep doing it is because our society has been cowed into submission with this approach, and we don’t push back. So it’s an easy path for the true bigots in Canada – like Ifill.
She sounds like perhaps she’s mentally unwell. I don’t mean that as cheap shot– she should get some help. I’d never heard of her either but if she isn’t experiencing some form of psychosis, she just as bad as that asshole Alex Jones. Throwing bombs for attention.
If that is what she posted she will turn more people off then gather to her cause…..except the Tru-anons, they are nuttier than a box of squirrel turds.
Wow. I see she has doubled down. Maybe literally in response to this article.
https://www.hilltimes.com/story/2023/08/02/the-racist-history-of-police-dog-use/394042/
Someone needs to explain to her, very slowly, the concept of false equivalency.
Martin,
Some people strive exceedingly hard just to become hopeless. Fits her to a tee. What more can I say?
Don Cherry says “those people” with a side allusion to immigrants – he gets fired and forever shunned.
Erica Ifill says “you people” with a direct reference to a specific group of people – don’t hold your breath that she’ll face a similar wrath as Cherry.