I didn't post anything yesterday because I was in shock. I read a newspaper account of a "home invasion" in a Toronto suburb, in which an Oriental lady was killed and her husband injured. There, at the end of the story, was a description of the three suspects. The colour of the perps wasn't mentioned but the report did say that one of them "spoke with a Caribbean [sic] accent".
"A Caribbean accent!" Cazart! That phrase -- actually "a Jamaican accent" -- used to be set in cold type in the Toronto papers, and routinely appended to stories about convenience store robberies and the like.
Then it became politically incorrect to suggest that crimes were being committed by people of colour...especially the Jamaicans who have been welcomed into Canada since former PM Trudeau opened the floodgates.
At the Globe and Mail, at least, it is still taboo to refer to someone's race in a crime report. Or at least it was, until last night. Following comments by dozens of readers of the online edition, the Glob finally inserted the word "black" into the descriptions.
However, a commentator named "Meatball" had the finally word: "Gee, they were black? What a surprise! I'm shocked, SHOCKED!"
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