Shawn Brant - Deseronto Protester Profile
Global News in Toronto had just a brief blurb on the new native protest that has just started today near Kingston, Ontario. They cut to the spokesman for the protesters, and I recognized him INSTANTLY. His name is Shawn Brant... ring any bells?
He's the same guy who lead the bunch who blocked the CN rail line between Toronto and Montreal during the height of the Caledonia dispute. Remember that fiasco? I think it lasted just three days, but it threatened to become a major issue, as that rail line is a vital link for people and goods between Ontario and Quebec.
But wait, there's more! Did a quick Google search...
Did you know he's a part of the tobacco trade? True, not that big a deal... though the legality of this venture is still somewhat in dispute.
But the kicker, at least for me, is this... did you know that he's also a self declared border guard? Though I do use the term "guard" loosly... because the term "protester smuggler" would be a better term to use. During the 2001 Quebec City for the Summit of the Americas, a Shawn & Co. decided to try and open up a native bridge (between the Canadian and US sides of the border) on the Akwasasne reserve to protesters from the US who were denied entry at the Canadian border.
My point? This guy is a professional protester... nothing more. He has repeatedly shown that he has no respect for the laws of our nation... and he's asking us to respect his nation?
It's a two way street sir.
He's the same guy who lead the bunch who blocked the CN rail line between Toronto and Montreal during the height of the Caledonia dispute. Remember that fiasco? I think it lasted just three days, but it threatened to become a major issue, as that rail line is a vital link for people and goods between Ontario and Quebec.
But wait, there's more! Did a quick Google search...
Did you know he's a part of the tobacco trade? True, not that big a deal... though the legality of this venture is still somewhat in dispute.
But the kicker, at least for me, is this... did you know that he's also a self declared border guard? Though I do use the term "guard" loosly... because the term "protester smuggler" would be a better term to use. During the 2001 Quebec City for the Summit of the Americas, a Shawn & Co. decided to try and open up a native bridge (between the Canadian and US sides of the border) on the Akwasasne reserve to protesters from the US who were denied entry at the Canadian border.
My point? This guy is a professional protester... nothing more. He has repeatedly shown that he has no respect for the laws of our nation... and he's asking us to respect his nation?
It's a two way street sir.
posted by Christian Conservative @ 6:11 p.m.
24 Comments:
At Wed Jan 10, 08:05:00 p.m. EST,
Anonymous said…
I think that people that push wars should be made to go and fight in them too but that would be a two way street too.
(real conservative)
At Thu Jan 11, 03:01:00 p.m. EST,
Anonymous said…
Two way street?
Good idea!
Has Canada ever shown any respect for the laws of Indigenous nations?
Er, no.
So . . . who's going to go first?
Actually, this whole "let's conveniently forget all the unfortunate history that got us to this point and just expect everyone to carry on as equals from this point onward" is a not so well disguised example of racism.
This "two way street" kind of thinking is similar to the "same treatment for everyone" nonsense that right wingers spout, while conveniently forgetting about the oppressive aparthied that their ancestors put in place when it comes to First Nations people and that they have allowed to remain in place.
It's part of our history fellow Canadians and the time to end the national case of denial is long past.
And this is coming from someone who has a long history of dealing with Shawn Brant and who agrees completely with the analysis that he is a professional sewage agitator.
Your list of flash points with which Mr. Brant has been involved is only scratching the surface. Scratch a little deeper.
At Thu Jan 11, 09:07:00 p.m. EST,
Anonymous said…
How come the natives have suddenly(in the last few months) become so restless? Should us settlers arm ourselves and prepare for an attack?
At Thu Jan 11, 09:11:00 p.m. EST,
Anonymous said…
No we don't need to arm ourselves we just invite the natives to a party and give them each a bottle of cheap wine and a knife and they will solve the problem by themselves.
At Thu Jan 11, 09:52:00 p.m. EST,
Anonymous said…
This piece of garbage ain't worth a second look. Racists need to fuck off to Sisterloveville where they can live out their days in white trash heaven.
At Fri Jan 12, 12:26:00 a.m. EST,
Anonymous said…
I suggest you listen to the true people of this land before you'd have to stay temporarily inside your temporary dwelling until you get back on boat to where your permanently from which is europe your history books say its where your from and it also says or rather brags how this land was taken now if your so-called government is willing to regard their attenton on residential schools and the abuse that happened and componsate what was done to my elders ,then ,I have certain valuable documentation on hand to their admitting of their wrongs to them, which in our process only gives us more reasons to stand up as a nation. 2007 will be like thunder for first nations across KKKanada for you people because you were all part and still part of this ongoing attempt to get what you want through other people's dignity but thats over now. If you do want security please apply at your local welfare office and likely they'll pay you a ticket back home to wherever your from. Way back in 1928 many spirits were broken and still today some still are ,so I express my gratitude to the Mohawk Warrior Society, Okiijida society, American Indian Movement, Native Youth Movement, and a newly fresh Anishnabe Warriors in Quebec still in the efforts of forming mobilization through our communities. Feel free to comment no more fears (donishish75@hotmail.com
At Fri Jan 12, 12:39:00 a.m. EST,
Anonymous said…
no wonder your so stuck with following your gods word because you finally see it that YOUR WRONG, to the poor soul who's seeking acceptance.
At Fri Jan 12, 09:26:00 p.m. EST,
Anonymous said…
*
Call me wacky... but when your best alternative to a negotiated agreement is shutting down legitimate businesses and threatening to kill people... isn't it time to back up a little and punt?
*
At Sun Jan 14, 10:43:00 a.m. EST,
Anonymous said…
**Attnetion Please**
Those anonymous posts, sound like they came from the same person. Looks like a drive by smear, by a native-protestor supporter. I've never seen any posts on this site, that contain racist comments or calls for violence against any group of people.
Notice the use of radical native rhetoric:
"Should us SETTLERS arm ourselves and prepare for an attack?" When's the last time you heard anyone other than a native protestor refer to non-aboriginal Canadian as a settler?
The first grouping of anonymous postings came at 9:07, 9:11, 9:52. All within minutes of each other, all with similar tone.
Our anonymous poster returns at 12:26 to swoop in and "tell it like is" at least how it is from the veiw point of a self-delusional native radical. Our anon. poster really takes the high ground, insinuating that Canadians are racsist, then going on to make veiled threats like these:
"I suggest you listen to the true people of this land before you'd have to stay temporarily inside your temporary dwelling until you get back on boat to where your permanently from"
"If you do want security please apply at your local welfare office and likely they'll pay you a ticket back home to wherever your from"
"2007 will be like thunder for first nations across KKKanada for you people because you were all part and still part of this ongoing attempt to get what you want through other people's dignity but thats over now"
Finally, a few minutes later at 12:39 anon. comes back to check the fruits of his "labour" but no ones biting, so what does he do? He takes a swipe at our oppresive, anti-native religion:
"no wonder your so stuck with following your gods word because you finally see it that YOUR WRONG, to the poor soul who's seeking acceptance"
Whoever, this poor soul is, they are a prime example of the indoctrination of the radical native movement.
At Sun Jan 14, 07:15:00 p.m. EST,
Anonymous said…
You poor brainwashed sheep believe everything the corporate media tells you to believe. Poor poor sheep.
At Sun Jan 14, 07:34:00 p.m. EST,
Anonymous said…
WHITE PRIVILEGE SHAPES THE U.S.
Robert Jensen
School of Journalism
University of Texas
Austin, TX 78712
work: (512) 471-1990
rjensen@uts.cc.utexas.edu
copyright Robert Jensen 1998
first appeared in the Baltimore Sun, July 19, 1998
[This essay builds on the discussion of white privilege from Peggy McIntosh's essay "White Privilege and Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming to See Correspondences Through Work in Women's Studies."]
by Robert Jensen
Here's what white privilege sounds like:
I am sitting in my University of Texas office, talking to a very bright and very conservative white student about affirmative action in college admissions, which he opposes and I support.
The student says he wants a level playing field with no unearned advantages for anyone. I ask him whether he thinks that in the United States being white has advantages. Have either of us, I ask, ever benefited from being white in a world run mostly by white people? Yes, he concedes, there is something real and tangible we could call white privilege.
So, if we live in a world of white privilege--unearned white privilege--how does that affect your notion of a level playing field? I ask.
He paused for a moment and said, "That really doesn't matter."
That statement, I suggested to him, reveals the ultimate white privilege: the privilege to acknowledge you have unearned privilege but ignore what it means.
That exchange led me to rethink the way I talk about race and racism with students. It drove home to me the importance of confronting the dirty secret that we white people carry around with us everyday: In a world of white privilege, some of what we have is unearned. I think much of both the fear and anger that comes up around discussions of affirmative action has its roots in that secret. So these days, my goal is to talk openly and honestly about white supremacy and white privilege.
White privilege, like any social phenomenon, is complex. In a white supremacist culture, all white people have privilege, whether or not they are overtly racist themselves. There are general patterns, but such privilege plays out differently depending on context and other aspects of one's identity (in my case, being male gives me other kinds of privilege). Rather than try to tell others how white privilege has played out in their lives, I talk about how it has affected me.
I am as white as white gets in this country. I am of northern European heritage and I was raised in North Dakota, one of the whitest states in the country. I grew up in a virtually all-white world surrounded by racism, both personal and institutional. Because I didn't live near a reservation, I didn't even have exposure to the state's only numerically significant non-white population, American Indians.
I have struggled to resist that racist training and the ongoing racism of my culture. I like to think I have changed, even though I routinely trip over the lingering effects of that internalized racism and the institutional racism around me. But no matter how much I "fix" myself, one thing never changes--I walk through the world with white privilege.
What does that mean? Perhaps most importantly, when I seek admission to a university, apply for a job, or hunt for an apartment, I don't look threatening. Almost all of the people evaluating me for those things look like me--they are white. They see in me a reflection of themselves, and in a racist world that is an advantage. I smile. I am white. I am one of them. I am not dangerous. Even when I voice critical opinions, I am cut some slack. After all, I'm white.
My flaws also are more easily forgiven because I am white. Some complain that affirmative action has meant the university is saddled with mediocre minority professors. I have no doubt there are minority faculty who are mediocre, though I don't know very many. As Henry Louis Gates Jr. once pointed out, if affirmative action policies were in place for the next hundred years, it's possible that at the end of that time the university could have as many mediocre minority professors as it has mediocre white professors. That isn't meant as an insult to anyone, but is a simple observation that white privilege has meant that scores of second-rate white professors have slid through the system because their flaws were overlooked out of solidarity based on race, as well as on gender, class and ideology.
Some people resist the assertions that the United States is still a bitterly racist society and that the racism has real effects on real people. But white folks have long cut other white folks a break. I know, because I am one of them.
I am not a genius--as I like to say, I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer. I have been teaching full-time for six years, and I've published a reasonable amount of scholarship. Some of it is the unexceptional stuff one churns out to get tenure, and some of it, I would argue, actually is worth reading. I work hard, and I like to think that I'm a fairly decent teacher. Every once in awhile, I leave my office at the end of the day feeling like I really accomplished something. When I cash my paycheck, I don't feel guilty.
But, all that said, I know I did not get where I am by merit alone. I benefited from, among other things, white privilege. That doesn't mean that I don't deserve my job, or that if I weren't white I would never have gotten the job. It means simply that all through my life, I have soaked up benefits for being white. I grew up in fertile farm country taken by force from non-white indigenous people. I was educated in a well-funded, virtually all-white public school system in which I learned that white people like me made this country great. There I also was taught a variety of skills, including how to take standardized tests written by and for white people.
All my life I have been hired for jobs by white people. I was accepted for graduate school by white people. And I was hired for a teaching position at the predominantly white University of Texas, which had a white president, in a college headed by a white dean and in a department with a white chairman that at the time had one non-white tenured professor.
There certainly is individual variation in experience. Some white people have had it easier than me, probably because they came from wealthy families that gave them even more privilege. Some white people have had it tougher than me because they came from poorer families. White women face discrimination I will never know. But, in the end, white people all have drawn on white privilege somewhere in their lives.
Like anyone, I have overcome certain hardships in my life. I have worked hard to get where I am, and I work hard to stay there. But to feel good about myself and my work, I do not have to believe that "merit," as defined by white people in a white country, alone got me here. I can acknowledge that in addition to all that hard work, I got a significant boost from white privilege, which continues to protect me every day of my life from certain hardships.
At one time in my life, I would not have been able to say that, because I needed to believe that my success in life was due solely to my individual talent and effort. I saw myself as the heroic American, the rugged individualist. I was so deeply seduced by the culture's mythology that I couldn't see the fear that was binding me to those myths. Like all white Americans, I was living with the fear that maybe I didn't really deserve my success, that maybe luck and privilege had more to do with it than brains and hard work. I was afraid I wasn't heroic or rugged, that I wasn't special.
I let go of some of that fear when I realized that, indeed, I wasn't special, but that I was still me. What I do well, I still can take pride in, even when I know that the rules under which I work in are stacked in my benefit. I believe that until we let go of the fiction that people have complete control over their fate--that we can will ourselves to be anything we choose--then we will live with that fear. Yes, we should all dream big and pursue our dreams and not let anyone or anything stop us. But we all are the product both of what we will ourselves to be and what the society in which we live lets us be.
White privilege is not something I get to decide whether or not I want to keep. Every time I walk into a store at the same time as a black man and the security guard follows him and leaves me alone to shop, I am benefiting from white privilege. There is not space here to list all the ways in which white privilege plays out in our daily lives, but it is clear that I will carry this privilege with me until the day white supremacy is erased from this society.
Frankly, I don't think I will live to see that day; I am realistic about the scope of the task. However, I continue to have hope, to believe in the creative power of human beings to engage the world honestly and act morally. A first step for white people, I think, is to not be afraid to admit that we have benefited from white privilege. It doesn't mean we are frauds who have no claim to our success. It means we face a choice about what we do with our success
At Sun Jan 14, 10:18:00 p.m. EST,
Anonymous said…
Okay first of all, The border in Akwesasne is just that, IN Akwesasne. It is a bridge between one part of the territory and another, nothing more. So if Shawn wants to invite people to use the bridge why not? It seems to me that people are so blinded by their jealousy of the Onkwehonweh that they, not only refuse to see their racist view, but continue to support it and defend it. Shawn may have led a blockade of a railway, that again goes through the territory, but that railway was built on Onkwehonweh land and was built by workers of the Mohawk Nation, as was the bridge in question. He may also be part of the tabacco trade, but tobacco is in the sovereign rights of the Onkwehonweh people and he does nothing more than barder. In case all of you materialistic and money minded non-Native people don't know, that is how our people pay for things, trade and barder. Shawn moves his tobacco from one part of his territory to the other, and he also trades with other First Nations business owners, much the same as the governments do with imported and exported alcohol. I've never heard of anyone getting in a wreck after a night of smoking rollies, but I do know quit a few people that have lost their lives after someones nights of drinking an import such as Smirnoff. Think before you type and leave the green eyed monsters out of the letters. You can't be us and we can't be you just accept the terms the way they are.
At Mon Jan 15, 05:34:00 p.m. EST,
Anonymous said…
Yeah yeah kill whitey and all that jazz...
grow up, the more you talk the more delusional you sound. What makes your racsism ok?
At Mon Jan 15, 07:47:00 p.m. EST,
Anonymous said…
What racism are you talking about? The 'white privilege' article? That was written by a white man.
At Mon Jan 15, 08:35:00 p.m. EST,
Anonymous said…
"What racism are you talking about?"
"I suggest you listen to the true people of this land before you'd have to stay temporarily inside your temporary dwelling until you get back on boat to where your permanently from"
"If you do want security please apply at your local welfare office and likely they'll pay you a ticket back home to wherever your from"
"2007 will be like thunder for first nations across KKKanada for you people"
"fuck off to Sisterloveville where they can live out their days in white trash heaven"
"same treatment for everyone" nonsense
Yah nothing racist about rejecting the basic equality of all mankind, I'm sure in your mind some men are more equal than others. I suspect you're environment may actually be so polluted with racism you can't even see it when it's right in fron of you. Even when it's in you own words. Unless of course it's racism toward natives, but that's your bread and butter isn't it, that's where you find your identity. Until you get past this complex of the "defeated people" you'll always see evil whitey in all your problems.
At Mon Jan 15, 10:43:00 p.m. EST,
Anonymous said…
Anti-Native sentiment is so firmly entrenched in the Canadian psyche that the average joe considers anti-Native discourse to be based in "fact" when most joes don't have a clue about the true relationship between Canada and Natives. And apparently it's not just Natives that feel this way:
Friday, January 12, 2007
How Canadian are you?
Visible-minority immigrants and their children identify less and less with the country, report says MARINA JIMÉNEZ
Visible-minority immigrants are slower to integrate into Canadian society than their white, European counterparts, and feel less Canadian, suggesting multiculturalism doesn't work as well for non-whites, according to a landmark report.
The study, based on an analysis of 2002 Statistics Canada data, found that the children of visible-minority immigrants exhibited a more profound sense of exclusion than their parents.
Visible-minority newcomers, and their offspring, identify themselves less as Canadians, trust their fellow citizens less and are less likely to vote than white immigrants from Europe.
The findings suggest that multiculturalism, Canada's official policy on interethnic relations since 1971, is not working as well for newer immigrants or for their children, who hail largely from China, South Asia and the Caribbean, conclude co-authors Jeffrey Reitz, a University of Toronto sociologist, and Rupa Banerjee, a doctoral candidate.
It is also a warning that Canada, long considered a model of integration, won't be forever immune from the kind of social disruption that has plagued Europe, where marginalized immigrant communities have erupted in discontent, with riots in the Paris suburbs in the fall of 2005.
"We need to address the racial divide," Prof. Reitz said. "Otherwise there is a danger of social breakdown. The principle of multiculturalism was equal participation of minorities in mainstream institutions. That is no longer happening."
The sense of exclusion among visible-minority newcomers is not based on the fact that they earn less than their white counterparts. Instead, the researchers found integration is impeded by the perception of discrimination, and vulnerability -- defined as feeling uncomfortable in social situations due to racial background and a fear of suffering a racial attack.
That is why even as the economic circumstances of newcomers improve over time, the path to integration does not necessarily become smoother for visible minorities.
The study found that 35 per cent of recent immigrants of Chinese origin reported experiences of perceived discrimination, 28 per cent of South Asians, and 44 per cent of blacks, compared with 19 per cent of whites.
The gap didn't narrow, but widened, with the next generation, with 42 per cent of all visible minority second-generation immigrants reporting discrimination, compared with 10.9 per cent of their white counterparts.
"There is a perception among minority communities that discrimination is part of their lives. Yet if you ask Canadians in general, they discount discrimination," Prof. Reitz noted.
The study, released yesterday by the Montreal-based Institute for Research on Public Policy, was based on the Ethnic Diversity Survey, which asked seven specific questions about integration. It is considered the best source of information on the topic because of the huge sample size (more than 40,000 respondents).
The study's authors found that only 33 per cent of first-generation visible-minority immigrants identified as Canadians, compared with 64 per cent of white immigrants, while 70 per cent voted in the last federal election, compared with 82 per cent of white immigrants. Seventy-nine per cent of visible-minority immigrants had Canadian citizenship, compared with 97 per cent of white immigrants.
Regarding interpersonal trust -- trust of one's fellow citizens -- the response of blacks was markedly lower. Thirty per cent of blacks trusted their fellow citizens, compared with 50 per cent of white immigrants and 60 per cent of Chinese immigrants.
As for the children of visible-minority immigrants, 44 per cent of them felt a sense of belonging, compared with about 60 per cent of their parents. In contrast, 57 per cent of the children of white immigrants felt a sense of belonging, compared with 47 per cent of their parents.
While Canadians in general remain supportive of immigration, they also maintain a "social distance" from minorities, reflected in the study's findings, the authors noted.
"When you study the trend over time, visible minorities who were born here feel less like they belong than their parents," Prof. Reitz said.
The research highlights an urgent issue: the failure to engage immigrants as full members of society, said Ratna Omidvar, executive director of the Maytree Foundation, a Toronto organization that works with immigrants. "Good multicultural policy must not only protect our rights to equality, but it must also create real opportunities," she said.
Added Prof. Reitz: "Multiculturalism doesn't have specific goals and objectives. The majority population thinks too much is being done already, while minorities think the policy lacks credibility."
CANADIAN IDENTITY
Do you identify as Canadian?
Immigrants Immigrants
Immigrant Recent* Earlier** Second Generation Third Generation and higher
Whites 21.9% 53.8% 78.2% 63.4%
Total visible minorities 21.4 34.4 56.6
Chinese 30.6 42.0 59.5
South Asian 19.1 32.7 53.6
Black 13.9 27.2 49.6
Other visible minorities 17.4 32.8 60.6
* Arrived in Canada between 1991and 2001 ** Arrived in Canada before 1991
SOURCE: JERRREY G. REITZ AND RUPA BANERJEE
DISCRIMINATION?
Have you experienced discrimination in the past 5 years?
Immigrants Immigrants
Immigrant Recent* Earlier** Second Generation Third Generation and higher
Whites 19.2% 10.2% 10.9% 9.9%
Total visible minorities 33.6 35.5 42.2
Chinese 35.4 30.9 34.5
South Asian 28.2 34.1 43.4
Black 44.8 47.7 60.9
Other visible minorities 32.5 34.8 36.2
*Arrived in Canada between 1991and 2001 ** Arrived in Canada before 1991
SOURCE: JERRREY G. REITZ AND RUPA BANERJEE
At Mon Jan 15, 10:57:00 p.m. EST,
Christian Conservative said…
Well, I am a more recent immigrant to this nation, of British origin.
Nothing can change what happened when my people came to and took over this continent, but we CAN try to make things better for the future moving forward.
At Tue Jan 16, 12:38:00 a.m. EST,
Anonymous said…
I am getting hate mail from whoever and thats not fair ,someone stole my identity on the net and I will complain , I liva far from wherever your in conflict so please stop the hate mail or I will denounce .......
At Tue Jan 16, 08:07:00 a.m. EST,
Christian Conservative said…
Anon @ 12:38, I have no idea what you're referring to. There has been no hate mail originating from this blog, perhaps from one reader, but that is far from my control.
Sorry to hear about your problem.
At Tue Jan 16, 08:45:00 a.m. EST,
Anonymous said…
You're a real piece of work, I personally haven't e-mailed you, but you made several threats to non-aboriginals and then you posted you e-mail address with this comment.
"Feel free to comment on more fears (donishish75@hotmail.com)"
If someone is sending you hate mail you invited it upon yourself. But, to be honest given your recent track record on this site I doubt that's even the case. You've been decietful since you started posting here. I'm done, take care man, i really hope you are able to find your way out of your delusions.
At Tue Jan 16, 09:40:00 a.m. EST,
Christian Conservative said…
Ryan, I think that the REAL owner of "donishish75(at)hotmail" is the most recent commenter, and he/she is saying that someone, the racist anon person, posted a fake e-mail address, and now this person is getting tons of hate mail when it was in fact someone else who posted the threats.
Anyone who has been e-mailing that posted address, please lay off. It looks like someone is drumming up a hatemail attack by posting fake garbage, and attributing it to a real person they don't like.
To anyone who wants to post as "Anonymous" here, please post a set of initials so we can keep track of who said what. (they don't have to be your real initials, just use the same ones when you post)
At Tue Jan 16, 09:40:00 a.m. EST,
Christian Conservative said…
Ryan, I think that the REAL owner of "donishish75(at)hotmail" is the most recent commenter, and he/she is saying that someone, the racist anon person, posted a fake e-mail address, and now this person is getting tons of hate mail when it was in fact someone else who posted the threats.
Anyone who has been e-mailing that posted address, please lay off. It looks like someone is drumming up a hatemail attack by posting fake garbage, and attributing it to a real person they don't like.
To anyone who wants to post as "Anonymous" here, please post a set of initials so we can keep track of who said what. (they don't have to be your real initials, just use the same ones when you post)
At Tue Jan 16, 10:16:00 a.m. EST,
Anonymous said…
Maybe that is the case CC, but I just get the feeling that this anon. person will do just about anything to defame you for your piece on Shawn Brant. So far that seems to have included posting racist comments, calls to violence, and pretnding to be multiple people for the purposes of promoting a fake anti-native discussion. I'm not so sure that posting an e-mail claiming that hate mail has originated from your site is not part of his "plan"
Have you ever engaged a troll, and wished you had just ignored them in the first place? Yah, that's about where I'm at right now, sorry for that.
At Fri Mar 23, 11:50:00 a.m. EDT,
Anonymous said…
Shawn Brant is not native.How can an adopted red haired Polish descent consider him self native???mmm What his group of people are doing are further hammering the nails in the coffin of the Deseronto area...Splitting familys and friends......dividing the whole community.
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