Image from Certificate Magic
The city of Sault Ste. Marie located in Ontario, Canada is providing everyone the opportunity to sign a pledge and register themselves as “certified non-racists”.
The city collaborated with Area Local Immigration Partnership (LIP) and launched the ‘Take the pledge against Racism and Discrimination’ campaign.
The pledge asks supporters to make a personal commitment to “understand, stand against, and act to eliminate racism and discrimination”.
“It only takes a few seconds to go online and fill out the form. When you click submit, your pledge is added to a running count of those who’ve also taken the pledge. There are so many different cultures in Canada; we face the challenges of acceptance and inclusion every day. We hope this campaign will draw attention to what we as a society can accomplish when we stand together. Through the ‘Take the Pledge’ campaign we are working to make the world a more welcoming place where we appreciate all people, all cultures, and the talents they bring to our communities,” states Danny Krmpotich, the program coordinator of Local Immigration Partnership.
Anyone who is interested can go on to the city’s official website to take the pledge and print out a certificate which proudly displays themselves as individuals who are “non-racist”.
Heres what the pledge looks like:
And heres what the certificate looks like:
This pledge is no better than the safety pin movement that took place right after the election in the United States. A pin or certificate that declares you are not racist is not solving the problem– not even remotely. You shouldn’t even need these types of things to show that you’re not racist. Your anti-racism should show in your actions and how you behave in the real world when it comes to real-life situations where people actually face discrimination.
The organization believes that by having the community sign this anti-racism pledge, racism will automatically “end here”, but that is not the case at all. Although this pledge is bringing awareness to racism and it is letting people sign it in solidarity to those who do face discrimination, it is not actually fixing the problem. LIP as an organization can do so much more to solve racism and actually help those who face it on a daily basis by providing them with resources instead of creating a campaign to make allies feel active when they are only patting themselves on the back for being decent people.
