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Letter: Criticizing Trans Mountain activists for being white is unfair

Editor: Re: These Burnaby Trans Mountain opponents look white and privileged , NOW Letters As much as I agree with proceeding with the pipeline, if it truly benefits the population and the society of our country - which is to be seen still - I must d
Burnaby Mountain group
These five protesters, ranging in age by more than 70 years, were all arrested on Burnaby Mountain in 2014. Five years later, they're not done fighting the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. Left to right: Barbara Grant, Ruth Walmsley, Peter Cech, Noam Cech and Karl Perrin.

Editor:

Re: These Burnaby Trans Mountain opponents look white and privileged, NOW Letters

As much as I agree with proceeding with the pipeline, if it truly benefits the population and the society of our country - which is to be seen still - I must disagree with the context in which this letter is presented.

Someone's skin colour and this term of so-called white privilege should not be the way we build our arguments when we are trying to have a dialogue with someone who has a different view.

Surely we as a people with non-white skin would not appreciate if there were terms used to describe us which were based on the colour of our skin.

We might not know everyone's motives for protesting anything, but making the assumption that their opposition is based on the colour of their skin is in itself inappropriate and quite immature.

We as citizens of this country should have the responsibility of making our country better, unified, educated, taken care of by the people and for the people no matter the colour of our skin, the property they own. If someone grew up in different economic conditions than us, and they have succeeded where some of us cannot, we should not place the blame on the colour of their skin.

Instead, we should educate ourselves, get involved and find solutions to get the government to work for the citizens responsibly and with certain obligations. The aforementioned individuals got arrested, but I have never seen a politician get arrested for making an empty promise with no moral or legal obligation to keep it.

Orkhan Aghayev, Burnaby