Monctonians Mostly ‘Speak White’... In Honour of Col. Robert Monckton

The Protestant ethic that came to dominate class divisions (social stratification) within American society is rooted in the Protestant ethic, one which traditionally holds that white Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASPs) are of a superior ‘race’. Ultimately, the Calvinistic view is an 16^th century ideological way of thinking which states that white supremacy was somehow predetermined by the divine grace of God’s hand through some sort of heavenly process of predestination, also commonly known as Manifest Destiny. With America’s interpretation of divine providence, it all began with ethnic cleansing and genocide during the colonial Indian wars and the Acadian expulsion, lasting from 1755 to 1803, and with this the stage was set for the later white supremacy movements from the 19^th century to the present. Other forms of racism, of course, include Anti-Catholicism, Anti-Jewish, anti-Muslim, and anti-Asian sentiments. However, without a doubt, the two groups most historically discriminated against by white America are Indigenous peoples and blacks of African slave descent. And, in case you weren’t already aware, Aboriginal peoples also have a long history of being enslaved by Europeans.

     The predestined sense of superiority that Calvinism brought about for its’ followers provided the Protestant nations with a unique worldview, a perspective based on divine selection prior to birth, thus giving the adherents of the faith with a sense of moral predestined superiority. The moral elite that came out of such a belief system basically undermined all other cultures and/or peoples as inferior beings, and this was the pervading force behind all of the injustices of the colonial era with the Puritan’s perceived God-given rights of exercising their predestined supremacy over all of the peoples they conquered. It is this God-given supremacy that played such a crucial role in the early English and Anglo-American colonial rulers’ plans to intentionally draft cruel policies to kill/exterminate and/or forcefully displace Native American populations. And, to a lesser degree, this predestined supremacy was also the driving force behind the persecution or exclusion of other non-WASP European peoples who belonged to different denominational affiliations. Simply put, the idea of an equalitarian society with “justice for all” in the United States is really nothing less than a myth. When the Founding Fathers drafted the Constitution, they were writing it to suit the needs of their own particular class, that of the privileged elite, and no others. It was certainly not the needs of the Native Americans or the black slaves that they had in mind, for at the time the Founding Fathers dismissed the Natives as being human, instead equating them with animals, and the black slaves didn’t fare much better, receiving the designation of ‘three-fifths human’ (1790 census). Black slaves received the ‘partial person’ designation because, considered as property, they could be used for the benefit of their slave owners in determining the allocation of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.      

     This Manifest Destiny worldview during the colonial era was the underlying cause from which were born policies of discrimination and genocide, ones which the English and Anglo-American colonial governors brought with them to Acadia. It is this same God-given predestined sense of supremacy that justified their total destruction of the only harmonious community of mixed Amerindian/European people that existed in North America at the time. As coastal farmers and fishermen, the first French settlers who come to this part of North America in the early 1600s differed from other European settlers. In stark contrast to the Puritan sense of supremacy over Amerindian peoples, the Acadian French experience was a radically different one, a more respectful one, since they fully integrated into the local Mik’maq and Maliseet peoples. Adopting various elements of their traditional lifestyles, and often even intermarrying with their Native American friends and neighbours, the first sizable métis population appeared. Hence, when the English and Anglo-American colonial governors of Nova Scotia (formerly Acadia) and Massachusetts (which included present-day Maine) devised their cruel expulsion scheme and authorized the forceful removal of the Acadians from their land—the Expulsion of the Acadians, or le Grand Dérangement, lasted from 1755 to 1759—the governors cited as an excuse their friendliness with the local Indians, but this was only an excuse used as pretext for ethnic cleansing.

      At present time, somehow, as the world is falling apart all around us, people are taking to the streets to support the Black Lives Matter movement and all our Indigenous leaders are calling for the police to stop killing their people because Indigenous Lives Matter, too! So, while the shit hits the fan and our modern sensibilities bite history right in the ass, why is it that the good people of Russell (Ontario) are more offended than the people of Moncton are, as far as the namesake of their hometown is concerned? Even Torontonians are now scrutinizing their Dundas street, and we already all know about the controversy surrounding the Cornwall statue in Halifax. The name of Canada’s first prime minister, John A. Macdonald, is also slowly being erased. Even in England, statues are falling to the BLM protesters.

      Growing up in Moncton, it all reminds me of something peculiar that happened to me when I was a teenager. Sitting down on a mall bench, I was speaking with some friends in French, when suddenly, for no reason, another teenager my age came up behind me and pulled my hair and head back and punched me right in the face, breaking my nose. There was blood all over and I couldn’t see anything. Of course, he and his friends ran off quickly, but I do distinctly remember what he said: ‘Speak white, you fuckin’ French frog!’ The ‘speak white’ expression comes from a white supremacist ideology, one that originates in a colonial God-given WASP supremacy over other peoples. 

     I find it strikingly odd that the people of Moncton do not seem to mind the name of their city with all of the negative symbolism it carries. (For more on Col. Robert Monckton, see http://inquestiatimes.blogspot.com/2017/09/monckton-architect-of-genocide.html.) What message does the name of the city give to people who come to visit beautiful Moncton? Do they even know its history? And why are the people who live there not bothered by it? Personally, I think it is because most of the residents of the city ‘speak white’,  so they are not able to be any more objective. The name is accepted as a given, without giving it much thought. 

      Russell, Macdonald, Dundas, Cornwall, and maybe now even Laurier; all these names appear to be on the proverbial 'chopping block' in historians' best attempts to not re-write, but rather rectify their 'place' of honour in our modern times. Yet, with all the known atrocities associated with Col. Robert Monckton, the locals don't seem to be concerned at all. Strange, if you ask me...

Image by Javier Robles from Pixabay