Don’t hide racism and bigotry from our youngest learners

We worry too much about our children and do not give them the credit they deserve.

There is a professor of social psychology who is espousing a view from his position of power that is apparently racist, bigoted and would promote hatred.

I do not agree one moment with his agenda or his views, but I do not agree with the movement to shut him down. Ricardo Duchesne, University of New Brunswick professor of Social science, has tenure which means he has been there for a number of years and has been published.

When people think of those who are bigoted and racist and people who espouse hatred for people who are not our clones, they picture uneducated people who don't know better. What a shock when you hit university and find that people of power - supposedly educated people - hold these same views.

They need to confront this. If we allow our young people to believe that these type of people are a simple fringe group, who can be ignored, they will never get involved in the fight, because they do not see the danger.

We send the best and the brightest to our halls of learning. Let’s give them credit for a little common sense. In my day it was the communist party, who came and preached to us. I don't think they got many converts, but we did listen.

And there were social psychologists who held some off the wall theories that shocked some – some even swore at you.

My feeling is you cannot fight what you do not need to confront. Denying it exists at the higher levels is foolish and self-defeating. How many times have you heard politicians say in Canada that we are not racists, bigots, anti-immigrant or anti-religious? This is true of the majority of citizens, but not all.

our young know there is still a battle to be had for the minds of the young and impressionable, that they as future leaders of our country will be called upon to give witness to. Keeping them in the dark is not the answer.

Walter Jones is a freelance writer living in Amherst. His column appears weekly in the Amherst News.