A letter to Coquitlam–Maillardville MLA Selina Robinson:
Dear Selina,
It was such an honour to work with you at the Charles Best Secondary PAC when our teenagers were at school together.
You were so passionate and driven. You worked so hard on the cold and wet weather program with our students and local churches to help the unhoused in our community.
It was a time when schools were introducing the Social Justice courses. You were heavily involved in giving the students the opportunity to go to the symposium about the Holocaust. It was a journey for our children in their hearts, minds and souls.
My memories of you are of a compassionate, empathetic and loving individual.
That’s why I was so shocked and taken aback when you started tweeting, retweeting and liking Islamophobic and hateful rhetoric. I could not understand why this person that I knew and respected did not see my people as human, why she did not see them as deserving of basic human rights.
I understood that her people needed to feel safe after centuries of oppression and shameful treatment in Europe. Why could she not see that one injustice does not excuse or forgive another?
Then, this week, the video of you was released.
Most people who are reacting to your denigrating commentary are quoting this phrase, "a crappy piece of land."
What upset me the most were these words, “There were several hundred thousand people, but other than that it didn’t produce an economy….”
In a blink of an eye, you erased over 750,000 people.
No acknowledgement that they were forced from their homes, from their lives.
No acknowledgement of people such as my grandparents losing their home, their business and almost losing their lives.
Maybe that’s what you need to do, erase them, keep them out of mind, so that you don’t have to acknowledge that they, as part of the 750,000 people you’ve dismissed, had to suffer for Israel to exist.
As I listened to your video again, wondering “Did she really say that?”
I realized that the 18–34-year-olds that you say are unaware of the Holocaust are the ones that attended the Social Justice classes and the symposiums that you helped organized.
I have to thank you for teaching them well. They learned the principles of genocide and the steps that a state takes to eradicate a people.
You look at the data and think these young people don’t support Israel because of their ignorance. I look at the data and realize these young people learned well. They recognize genocide.
Selina, among the racist social media posts you have been sharing was one indicating that the pro-Palestine rallies were violent and calling for the murder of Jews. I have attended many of the rallies.
Not once have I heard a call for the murder of Jews. When we as a community chant, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” we are calling for a land with equality for all its citizens regardless of religion.
Selina, your racist ideology and your colonial mindset have been described as hurtful, but it is so much more than that.
It is inaccurate, misrepresentative, without merit, threatening and above all dangerous.
And because of this, I demand you resign.
- Ramona Chu, Coquitlam
