SASKATCHEWAN
Mandryk: Race and class distinctions in Covid-19 fights all too visible
5/22/2021
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This takes us back to another reason why those photos released by the Saskatoon police looked so different than the ones we normally see.
When police in this province ask for public assistance, the photos they post are, almost invariably, of young, visible minorities.
It’s an understandable frustration to the Indigenous community who see such photos as perpetuating negative stereotypes without ever contextualizing the societal issues that get us to the point of posting such pictures.
Now, the COVID-19 pandemic may be widening that class gap.
\\© BRANDON HARDER Saskatchewan Chief Medical Officer Dr. Saqib Shahab was harassed by anti-mask demonstrators in January.
Soliciting public help to identify law-breakers, the Saskatoon Police Service recently released some unusual-looking photos of alleged perpetrators.
They were photos of 41 unmasked people at a May 9 “freedom rally” in the city who allegedly violated the Public Health Act. That investigators are targeting them in such a public way is intriguing and, likely, somewhat tactical.
The police noted two more anti-mask rallies are planned for the city this weekend — a not-so-subtle warning you will be watched and possibly fined if you intend to defy public health orders. (In no small irony, by simply obeying the law and wearing a mask, the protesters couldn’t have been identified.)
Whether this is an effective strategy may be another matter.
Those attending these so-called “freedom rallies” have already self-righteously tapped into North America-wide defiance of mainstream media and are skeptical of legitimate scientific information. That defiance now seems extended to police inconveniencing their world.
Police cracking down on this “freedom of speech” against government policies runs the danger of creating sympathy among the more rational, those simply sick and tired of lockdowns that have closed their restaurants or kept their kids from playing hockey.
For some, it is just wanting to be a good parent or wanting to return to a normal life. For others, more than a year of COVID-19 still hasn’t taught them the differences between rights, privileges and obligations.
Whatever the case, “targeting” those protesting matters to which others may have passing sentiments could have undesired effects of creating sympathy and adding to the resolve. Heaven knows, such protesters have already been bolstered by political parties or right-wing media reinforcing their inflated grievances and bizarre sense of entitlement.
Soliciting public help to identify law-breakers, the Saskatoon Police Service recently released some unusual-looking photos of alleged perpetrators.
They were photos of 41 unmasked people at a May 9 “freedom rally” in the city who allegedly violated the Public Health Act. That investigators are targeting them in such a public way is intriguing and, likely, somewhat tactical.
The police noted two more anti-mask rallies are planned for the city this weekend — a not-so-subtle warning you will be watched and possibly fined if you intend to defy public health orders. (In no small irony, by simply obeying the law and wearing a mask, the protesters couldn’t have been identified.)
Whether this is an effective strategy may be another matter.
Those attending these so-called “freedom rallies” have already self-righteously tapped into North America-wide defiance of mainstream media and are skeptical of legitimate scientific information. That defiance now seems extended to police inconveniencing their world.
Police cracking down on this “freedom of speech” against government policies runs the danger of creating sympathy among the more rational, those simply sick and tired of lockdowns that have closed their restaurants or kept their kids from playing hockey.
For some, it is just wanting to be a good parent or wanting to return to a normal life. For others, more than a year of COVID-19 still hasn’t taught them the differences between rights, privileges and obligations.
Whatever the case, “targeting” those protesting matters to which others may have passing sentiments could have undesired effects of creating sympathy and adding to the resolve. Heaven knows, such protesters have already been bolstered by political parties or right-wing media reinforcing their inflated grievances and bizarre sense of entitlement.
These are not the Black Lives Matter or teepee protesters of last summer who received disdain from society and were taken to court for breaching park bylaws.Freedom ralliers have a look of familiarity — virtually all-white, mostly male and middle-aged, bonded by their seeming inability to comprehend how much societal freedom and privilege they actually do enjoy.
This takes us back to another reason why those photos released by the Saskatoon police looked so different than the ones we normally see.
When police in this province ask for public assistance, the photos they post are, almost invariably, of young, visible minorities.
It’s an understandable frustration to the Indigenous community who see such photos as perpetuating negative stereotypes without ever contextualizing the societal issues that get us to the point of posting such pictures.
Now, the COVID-19 pandemic may be widening that class gap.
A recent study by the Toronto Foundation illustrates that you are four times more likely to get COVID-19 in that city if you earn $30,000 to $50,000 a year and five times more likely if you earn less than $30,000 annually than if your income was $150,000 a year or higher.
COVID-19 may not discriminate, but it does prey upon the economically disadvantaged, who tend to be non-white minorities. This has been somewhat overlooked during the pandemic.
What anti-mask protestors and minorities share is the likelihood of going without a vaccine — the former because they see it as their privilege not to, and the latter because they may not have vehicles for drive-thru lines or the ability to take time off work.
It may be about all they do share. As was the case with the anti-mask/lockdown rally in front of the Saskatchewan legislature last November, racist undercurrents have not been uncommon.
We have seen this as a problem that’s happening somewhere else, like the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters, predominately middle-class, white and male.
But class distinctions have always been here, and might be growing during COVID-19.
Heck, this isn’t even the first time police have posted such photos. After similar “freedom protesters” marched through Regina’s Cornwall Centre to exercise their freedoms while generally low-paid workers in shops watched, the Regina Police Service issued photos.
The divide is widening right under our noses, and we don’t seem to notice.
Mandryk is the political columnist for the Regina Leader-Post and Saskatoon StarPhoenix.
It may be about all they do share. As was the case with the anti-mask/lockdown rally in front of the Saskatchewan legislature last November, racist undercurrents have not been uncommon.
We have seen this as a problem that’s happening somewhere else, like the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters, predominately middle-class, white and male.
But class distinctions have always been here, and might be growing during COVID-19.
Heck, this isn’t even the first time police have posted such photos. After similar “freedom protesters” marched through Regina’s Cornwall Centre to exercise their freedoms while generally low-paid workers in shops watched, the Regina Police Service issued photos.
The divide is widening right under our noses, and we don’t seem to notice.
Mandryk is the political columnist for the Regina Leader-Post and Saskatoon StarPhoenix.
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