Canada: University Uses Critical Race Theory to Fight ‘Islamophobia’

The Agassiz-Harrison Observer out in British Columbia reported Thursday that at the University of the Fraser Valley (UFV), a vanguard academic institution if there ever was one, is striking a blow this week against one of the great evils of our time: “As part of the Peace and Reconciliation Centre’s (PARC) Peace Talks series, on June 23 the centre will host a webinar from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., addressing Islamophobia.”…As if that weren’t enough modern academic street cred, the university’s website explains that the university is “situated on the unceded traditional territory of the Stó:lō peoples. The Stó:lō have an intrinsic relationship with what they refer to as S’olhTemexw (Our Sacred Land); therefore, we express our gratitude and respect for the honour of living and working in this territory.”

Dr. Keith Carlson, director of UFV’s Peace and Reconciliation Centre, and his colleagues certainly would never dream of suggesting that the Stó:lō peoples practice “systemic Islamophobia” on their unceded traditional territory, but those evil white Canadians certainly do, apparently, and so the good Dr. Carlson is here to fix the problem. To do so, the upcoming webinar offers a hodgepodge of the currently trendy academic shibboleths and superstitions.

The webinar will “draw on lived experience, post-colonial studies, and critical race theory to help understand the roots of Islamophobia and the structures that continue to sustain it.”

Islam is not a race, and Muslims are not all of one race. There are Muslims, and Islamic jihadis, of all races. To bring critical race theory into a discussion of “Islamophobia” is like a child who has a new toy and has to bring it everywhere, no matter how inappropriate the setting, and demonstrates the Left’s determination to racialize every issue and portray everyone who disagrees with their agenda as a “racist.”

“‘UFV College of Arts condemns the Islamophobic attack in London, Ontario on June 6 that resulted in the killing of Salman Afzaal and Madiha Salman, their 15-year-old daughter Yumna, Talat Afzaal, mother of Mr. Salman, and the bereavement of their son Fayaz.”…The murder of the Afzaal family was a heinous crime. Whether it resulted from “systemic Islamophobia” is, at best, unproven…. “racism” is “systemic,” we’re told, and now “Islamophobia” is now “systemic” as well. What systems in Canada actually discriminate against Muslims or disadvantage them in some way? Why, none. None at all.

“Islamophobia is real. It is a toxic force in our society that must be overcome,” Carlson said. “In North America, where Muslim people and culture continue to be portrayed in most movies and TV programs as violent extremists, it is little wonder that non-Muslim people grow up learning to fear and even hate the followers of Islam.”

Carlson gives the impression that these movies and TV shows that supposedly depict Muslims as “violent extremists” (which ones? In movies I’ve seen that have jihad terrorists as characters, there is invariably featured a wise, benign Muslim who opposes this “hijacking” of his or her faith) do so gratuitously out of racism and hatred. He gives no hint of being aware of the global reality of jihad violence committed by Muslims in the name of their faith and explicitly in accord with its teachings.

The term “Islamophobia” is an illegitimate conflation of two distinct phenomena: crimes against innocent Muslims, as in the case of the Afzaal family, which are never justified, and honest analysis of the motivating ideology of jihad terror, which is always necessary. Islamic advocacy groups and their leftist allies have been insisting for years that such analysis, too, constituted “Islamophobia.” Such analyses are what Left-fascists want to stamp out. 

If the Left succeeds in consolidating power, it will likely become illegal to enunciate publicly any opposition to jihad violence and Sharia oppression of women and others, for there is no example of any such opposition not being considered “Islamophobic.”

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/06/canada-university-uses-critical-race-theory-fight-robert-spencer/