In the hours after the tragedy of October 7 began trickling out to world media, and gruesome videos of butchered bodies from the Nova music festival, Sderot, and Kibbutz Be’eri circulated online, one of Ontario’s premier diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) firms justified the beheadings, immolations, kidnappings, and massacre of Israeli civilians.
“Whenever Black and Brown people resist oppression, we are cast as violent, aggressive, and riotous. But, the oppressors are silent about the violence they’ve enacted, typically for generations. This is how colonization works. Rewriting history is central to this process,” Tana Turner, a social justice advocate and founder of the Turner Consulting Group, wrote Oct. 8.
The underlying note was written by a self-described “Genderflux, lesbian, abolitionist, professor” with “(they/them)” pronouns. Turner’s account maintains that retweets “are for information, not endorsement.” The equity consultant did not respond to True North’s request for comment.
What kernel of wisdom was buried in the post’s justification of slaughtering pregnant mothers and stealing children is left for the reader to determine.
Reconciling the mass atrocity of Jews through the lens of oppression, colonization, and racism fits comfortably within Turner’s worldview, through which Hamas bears no mention despite mounting evidence that the terrorist group instructed operatives to target, torture, and kidnap civilians.
At least Turner hasn’t obscured where she feels Jews fall in the progressive hierarchy of oppressed peoples.
Screenshots shared on X (formerly Twitter) in April show Turner conducting a Zoom slideshow listing various “Systems of Oppression” without mentioning antisemitism.
Apart from the classic bogeymen – patriarchy, colonialism, capitalism – Turner highlights group-specific concerns, including “anti-Indigenous racism, ableism, anti-Black racism, Islamophobia, and Cisgenderism.”
How an equity consultant and academic at York University overlooked the simple fact that Canadian Jews remain the most targeted religious group in Canada – and thus seemingly deserving of inclusion in a presentation about oppression – should strain credulity.
But it doesn’t. If anything is certain about the events of October 7, it is that the smokescreen of equity specialists caring about Jews and antisemitism has finally cleared. The winds of Hamas’ destruction of Jewish life have irrevocably shown DEI specialists simply pantomimed sympathy for Jews.
Turner’s fellow York student union leaders released a statement after 10/7 referring to the atrocities in “so-called Israel” – the largest mass death of Jews since the Holocaust – as “justified and necessary.”
Fittingly, the leadership was comprised of Middle Eastern students well-versed in “structures of marginalization and oppression,” “committed to creating an inclusive environment that embraces the diverse backgrounds and experiences,” and research interests including “equity, inclusion, and belonging of non-white migrants and minorities.”
That activists steeped in DEI found common cause with an Islamic fundamentalist group whose explicit goal was to massacre civilians underscored the moral rot that had metastasized within the industry.
“I don’t tell anyone I’m Jewish anymore,” Susan, a DEI professional, told True North on conditions of anonymity.
“The dead girl in the truck just killed me,” she added, referencing a concert goer abducted by Hamas and taken to Gaza, where her body was paraded and spat on. “ She could have been my daughter.
“These academics and equity consultants never deal with antisemitism.”
In May 2021, as Hamas and Israel traded blows once again, Kike Ojo-Thompson, the founder of the KOJO Institute – the group tied to the controversial death of Toronto teacher Richard Bilkszto – echoed Turner’s argument demanding Jews be held to a different standard than their Muslim neighbours.
“Who will hold Israel accountable?” she asked on X after Israel targeted an office building it accused of doubling as a Hamas operation base. “I’m still trying to figure out the way forward re[garding] advocacy, but Jewish friends and accomplices, your voice, worldwide, is extremely important right now. #GazaUnderAttack”
Why didn’t Thompson ask Muslims worldwide to implore Hamas to renounce its charter calling for the genocide of Jews or uphold any basic recognition of human decency when it comes to women, the LGBT, or religious minorities?
The simple logic of Thompson and Turner is that Jews don’t count. They are part of the powerful, capitalistic, white oppressor class. No nuance or flexibility is afforded this scorched-earth view of humanity. Israeli civilians can never be victimized, and Palestinians cannot be held to account.
The events of the last week simply clarified what many have long suspected about the kayfabe DEI charade. Fittingly, it was the proponents of inclusivity and equity that marched in the streets of London, Toronto, New York, and Paris, where chants of “Gas the Jews” and “We are all Hamas” rang out.
Unsurprisingly, neither Thompson nor Turner voiced any consternation when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invited a Nazi to speak before the House of Commons in late September. Would they have ignored a Ku Klux Klan member speaking? We all know the answer.
More troublingly, what does it tell us about a field where folks like Thompson and Turner become industry leaders, win government contracts, and signal which institutions are onside (and which are off) in the ever-changing goalposts of progressivism?
DEI’s implicit directorate has always forsaken Jews of any colour or nationality, a grave oversight in Susan’s view. She bemoaned how DEI had transformed into a cottage industry of division and shaming. “What’s missing is compassion. I think what’s missing is compassion and empathy from both sides,” she said exasperatedly.
