Can anyone care to explain how this is racist and not just distasteful? Because the one t-shirt they mention doesn’t fit the bill.
I suspect because a lot of his victims were indigenous, which is likely a big part of how he was able to kill so many women before he was caught. Policing doesn’t work the same when the victims are from marginalized groups.
Okay but that doesn’t make that shirt in particular racist. Horribly insensitive, and I’ll admit I laughed a little in shock, but racism is really a stretch. There are plenty of other good ways to denounce this without using a term that can be disputed.
I actually think that’s an important part of communication that many people, particularly on the left, overlook: if your phrasing can be disputed, your words are called into question even if your underlying point is sound.
It would be wise to sidestep the issue using phrasing that is not disputable, or at least easily defensible.
The article doesn’t quote the family saying that the shirt is racist. So I suppose you could nitpick the CTV title writer there. (Maybe they said it, but it wasn’t included in the article though).
The family is quoted as saying the comedians are racist.
They do seem to have a pattern of joking about dead indigenous women/children.
They’ve also joked about how anybody that complains to HR about workplace harassment is going to have a bad time in the oil patch. While what that comedian was saying is probably true, he was celebrating it, not criticizing it.
They’ve also presented an “explanation” of the shirt in which they claim the shirt is meant as a criticism of the failure of the state to protect indigenous women. If you listen to it it’s not a very convincing argument, it sounds pretty disingenuous.
Edit to add: To suggest Pickton’s victims were all ‘hookers’, is probably the most racist part.
Because everything is racism now, white boy.
Jokes on you, I’m indigenous.