Cuz he's a white guy

My aunt, whom I love to the depts of the oceans, spontaneously visited this weekend, along with my two little cousins (10 ish and 13 ish)

I hadn't showered and was distracted by the "should I put on a bra, but i'm in my own home, how much walking around will I be doing while they're here, I'm wearing a white tshirt, but there's big bold lettering, I love my breasts" going on in my head.

I digress..

We chatted, my cousin is doing horseback riding lessons (when I was her age, I understood horseback riding as only being for rich people) and I envy what she gets to be doing (she trick-or-treated on horseback!)

And then "cuz he's a white guy" came out. My aunt was letting me know the status of my uncles application to be an RCMP officer. After reading an article about the RCMP recruiting women, aboriginal people and people of colour, their conclusion was that he wasn't getting the job "cuz he's a white guy".

First, I should state that I distrust the RCMP completely. Recruiting strategies are bullshit until the agency itself does a major overhaul of its cultural practices, working approaches and serious work with the individuals who perpetuate hate within their ranks. The RCMP is so far down the racism rabbit hole, I'd much rather abolish the institution, but that's for a whole other post.

I think she must have been confused when I quikly responded with a sincere "a good!". I then tried to explain that these are just recruitment strategies, and rather meaningless for making the RCMP actually able to do its job (which is...) properly.

I wonder what this could have done for their perspective. Alas, this is where we're at.

"White people with white privilege, censoring any mention of white privilege, because they have the (white) privilege to do so. how predictable. and unoriginal." - Suzy Yim