AN ATTACK ON HISTORY 

One galling and obvious fact about the stupid jerk activists who are renaming and demolishing our history, whether they be publicity hungry demonstrators or politicians, is they don't know diddley squat about the history.

So we have this nonsense about Egerton Ryerson and Henry Dundas. Ryerson's statue and name is attacked by the ignorant when only a few minutes of research would show he was a friend and helped what were then called Indians. And Dundas hated slavery and was hardly a supporter of what he called  odious.

Both also were master strategist when dealing with the realities of the day. Not for them the stampeding of public opinion by absolute BS.

The other day, a thoughtful friend of mine, who used to be a neighbour, wrote a letter to the Globe which ignored it. Paul Corey says they didn't even tell me "my very short effort was too long."

Now Corey is not one of the cowards with concealed faces and dubious motives who seek refuge in hysteria and lies. He is a retired professor from the Dalla Lama School of Public Health at U of T and his PhD is from Johns Hopkins University in the racially torn city of Baltimore.

Now Paul and his wife, who also has a PhD and was a researcher at Sick Kids, know all about the problems of being young and poor and living where race was really an issue.

His letter to the Globe follows, one of the media outlets in Toronto that could have done a much better job of revealing how silly and shallow Toronto council was. Not all reporters and editors have to be as craven as the CBC when it covers such crap

Paul wrote: In 1776 Scottish lawyer Henry Dundas won a case to prevent Joseph Knight from selling his black slave. Dundas stated, "Human nature, my Lords, spurns at the thought of slavery among any part of our species.The Court declared that there  could be no slaves on SCOTTISH soil.   

In 1789 abolitionist William Wilberforce wished his ENGLISH colleagues understood the ugliness of slavery. Try reading his essay without crying. His motion to abolish slavery in the House of Commons in 1791 lost by the vote 163 to 88. He lost again in 1794 and 1795. 

(Then) Dundas was on the team. In 1796 Dundas suggested the word “gradual” be added to the motion which won 230 to 85. In 1833 the Slavery Abolition Act was passed.                                                 Slavery began thousands of years ago ending in Scotland in 1776, 1793 in Ontario, 1833 in England and 1865 in the United States.                                                                                                                   Will those toppling Dundas be charged? Because I grew up in a poor part of the wonderful city of St. Catharine I hope that the estimated five-million dollar cost for eradicating the name Dundas would instead be used to give food and clothing to Toronto’s poor and  books for the rioters. "