CUPE 3906 would like to respond to the Oak Creek, Wisconsin
shooting at a Sikh gurdwara where on August 5, 2012 a white supremacist with
known ties to the neo-Nazi movement shot and killed six
people and injured several others. While the immediate target of this act was
the Sikh community, it is clear that this act targeted and/or has impacted
people of colour in general and especially South Asian, Muslim and Arab
communities.
Violence can show itself in many different forms from gun
violence in our communities to the ongoing wars around the world. What concerns
us here is racism: the racism of this specific attacker and the wide-spread
racism that is a fact of society on both sides of the border. With this statement
we wish to show our support to the Sikh community of Oak Creek and to all
communities who have been impacted by this event. We especially wish to show
our support to our colleagues and fellow union members as well as other members
of the McMaster and GTA/Hamilton communities who are impacted by this attack
and/or by everyday racism. We wish to publically re-affirm the old union
principle that an injury to one is an injury to all at a time when many of us
may be feeling fear, isolation and anger.
Oak Creek, Wisconsin is not an isolated or distant case. On
August 6, the day after Oak Creek, a mosque was burnt to the ground in Joplin,
Illinois, the last in a series of arsons. Close to home, in July a Brampton
Sikh religious elementary school was the target of racist graffiti, one of many
such incidents in our region. With this statement we remind ourselves that
racism is an everyday experience, that it comes in many different forms, and
that we as a union have made a commitment to support each other. We call on the
membership to more consciously work against racism in our union, campus and
beyond.
We invite other members of the campus community, union movement, individuals, and others to
sign on to this statement. If you wish to do so, please contact us at equity@cupe3906.org.
Signed,
The Equity Action Committee
