Job Applicant Called "the Ghetto Dude" in Email



Posted: Monday, July 30, 2007

by
Aidan Maconachy

Evon Reid is a University of Toronto political science major. He submitted an application to the Ontario government, in hopes of obtaining a position as a media consultant.

The email he received in response to his application, contained the comment - "this is the ghetto dude that I spoke to before". The comment was added by one Aileen Siu, a cabinet office worker at Queen's Park. She insists that the comment was forwarded in the email by mistake and that it didn't refer to anyone "outside my circle of friends".

Mr Reid happens to have short dreadlocks. He also happens to be the black applicant who Ms Siu dealt with personally. The chances of "the ghetto dude" referencing some other unnamed party, when the term showed up in an email addressed to Evon Reid is extremely unlikely. Certainly the Ontario government hasn't accepted the excuse.

Deputy minister of communications, Giles Gherson, left a message on Evon Reid's voicemail stating that he would like to apologize in person for the slur. Both the Tories and the NDP through their spokespersons recommended that the apology come directly from the premier, Dalton McGuinty.

The Toronto Star coverage of the episode, contained an interesting remark by an American named Cathy Constanzo, who presently resides in Burlington, Ontario. She made the observation that Ontario tends to see itself as freerer of the racial problems experienced in the US, and added - "you can talk fair and still be racist and close-minded."

There is obviously an office culture in Queen's Park that is okay with "ghetto dude" type references, otherwise it is highly unlikely Siu would have felt comfortable bandying the term around. This is unfortunate. Evon Reid is a political science major and a self-described "political junkie" who is looking to make use of his skills. He doesn't need to be profiled in this tacky fashion when he steps out to make a job application. If a casual slur of this sort can end up in a departmental email, it makes you wonder to what extent prejudices play a role in who gets hired at Queen's Park.

Some people have called for heads to roll. I'm not sure if it needs to go that far, but there certainly needs to be a major wake-up call to ensure this type of thing never happens again.

And yes, Evon Reid deserves an apology from the premier. It happened at Queen's Park and it has angered a lot of Ontarians. Premier McGuinty is the last guy who handles the buck.

Aidan Maconachy is a freelance writer and artist based in Ontario. You can visit his blog at http://aidanmaconachyblog.blogspot.com/
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