by arthur Weinreb, associate Editor,
November 23, 2004
It is hardly a secret that the Toronto Star is a tad on the left side of the political spectrum. The newspaper sees itself as a defender of the poor, the downtrodden and visible minorities, whom they view as society’s victims. So when a person of colour excels at something or achieves something that the elites at the Star think is only reserved for white males it is usually front page news. You would figure with that philosophy that the Star would be ecstatic over the fact that Condoleezza Rice was named to be the first black woman to be U.S. Secretary of State--the most powerful cabinet position in the government of the most powerful country in the world. Wrong.
It’s not as if the Toronto Star ignored Rice’s appointment in the land to the south that the newspaper isn’t too crazy about. Between November 15 and 17, eight articles, columns and editorials appeared in the Star about Condi Rice’s appointment as U.S. Secretary of State. While two articles mentioned her being raised in the segregated south, only one specifically referred to her as an "african american". and that was only done so that the paper could quote african american commentators referring to Rice as a race traitor amongst other things.
Never once in its 3-day saturation coverage of Rice’s appointment did the Star ever mention the fact that she was the first african american woman to hold such a powerful cabinet position. Nor did the newspaper mention the fact that Bush is replacing an african american Secretary of State with another african american. The nicest thing that the Toronto Star said about Condoleezza Rice was Richard Gwyn’s column where he mentioned that Rice’s sporting and religious views were identical to those of George W. Bush’s. Much of the liberal media ignored the sports aspect and just let it be known that both Rice and Bush were crazy Christians.
at least the Star and the Canadian media refrained from the stereotypical vitriol that Rice was subjected to in some american media such as the cartoon by Jeff Danziger that portrayed Rice as a slave from Gone with the Wind. Nor was Condi Rice referred to in the Canadian media as aunt Jemima like she was by John Sylvester on WTDY-aM in Madison Wisconsin.
On the other hand however, the Toronto Star, with its eight articles in three days, never reported on some of the racist anti-Rice comments that appeared in some of the U.S. media outlets.
The Toronto Star loves blacks and minorities--as long as they think they know their place and think the way the Star wants them to think.