In an effort to promote cultural awareness, Halifax’s Park West School recently organized an event where students were invited to dress in ways that represented their ancestral culture(s).
Considering that the school website boasts of being “one of the most multicultural schools east of Montreal; with almost 60 countries represented in our school community,” the event seemed like a great idea.
It is worth noting that the school website also asserts, “We are rich in diversity. We respect, value, and celebrate diversity in all its forms. […] We offer students a nurturing environment in which to learn and grow in a culture of acceptance.”
Evidently, the website failed to mention that the said celebration and acceptance do not apply to students of Palestinian ancestry.
This became clear when several Palestinian-Canadian students chose to don the Palestinian traditional scarf, or keffiyeh during this activity. Instead of being “celebrated” and “accepted” in a “nurturing environment,” these kids were accused of wearing something “representing war colours.”
This accusation came directly from the school principal, Ms. Benedette Anyanwu, who told students to remove their keffiyehs. Students who did not respect the administration’s admonishments to remove the keffiyehs were told to report to the principal’s office.
Anyanwu’s act of accusing teenagers of wearing “war colours” simply because they wore a keffiyeh is a textbook example of anti-Palestinian racism. Such acts contribute to the erasure of Palestinian culture and history in Canadian learning institutions.
READ MORE: Multicultural day at Halifax school, except for Palestinians
Associating the keffiyeh with the term “war colours” denotes not only abject ignorance and cultural insensitivity, but the most hurtful of stereotyping for Palestinian-Canadians. The term “war colours” evokes aggression, violence and, let’s be honest, terrorism. These kids do not deserve to be accused of such nonsense by their school principal. The Palestinian-Canadian students in Halifax are there because their families fled or were forced to flee their homeland in Palestine at the hands of Israel’s military.
Had Anyanwu or other Park West School staff bothered to do the minimum of research, they would have found that the keffiyeh has a rich cultural tradition going back centuries that has nothing to do with war. Anyanwu should also know that many cultural symbols – including the red poppies that many Canadian wear in November – literally are symbols of war, and that this alone does not qualify them for condemnation.
The incident comes on the heels of another anti-Palestinian incident in a Canadian school. Late last year, during a Holocaust education event, a guest lecturer at Montreal’s Westmount High School told students that allegations of Palestinian abuse at the hands of Israelis are “a bunch of crap,” and “big fat lies.” The guest-speaker, an American private investigator, added that Israel is “doing everything but abusing the Palestinians.”
These are not isolated incidents. They are reflective of a pervasive and institutionalized anti-Palestinian racism in Canada. Whether it’s spewing misinformation or, in the case of Halifax’s Park West School, making kids feel ashamed and rejected by banning and slandering the keffiyeh, these incidents should be recognized for what they are: outright racism.
The Arab-Canadian Lawyers Association provided a rigorous definition of anti-Palestinian racism in its landmark report in 2022. It describes anti-Palestinian racism (APR) as “a form of anti-Arab racism that silences, excludes, erases, stereotypes, defames or dehumanizes Palestinians or their narratives.” Among the examples they cite include is “Defaming Palestinians and their allies with slander such as being inherently antisemitic, [or] a terrorist threat.”
After issuing a sincere apology to the students and the Palestinian-Canadian community, Park West School and the Halifax Regional Center for Education (HRCE) should work to incorporate provisions prohibiting anti-Palestinian racism in their equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) frameworks.
While institutional EDI principles must incorporate anti-Palestinian racism, Park West School and the HRCE should recognize that even the most rigorous EDI policy will fail if rooted in ignorance. The institutions should heed the assertion on Park West School’s own Diversity Policy, which states, “Knowledge generates understanding and understanding generates acceptance.”
After Anyanwu has reviewed the EDI frameworks of her employer, I invite her to Google the word Keffiyeh and do some reading for a few hours. After that, she can reward herself at the local shwarma shop with some falafel and hummus.
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