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Last term, my oldest was tasked with coming up with a report on one of the Famous Five. She chose Emily Murphy. By way of background, I’m a historian who studies the history of the Chinese in Canada. Her dad is Chinese. I was hesitant for her to begin.
I had to set aside all of my urges to yell “She was a damned racist” and let her research on her own. Plowing through the material her teacher provided, she recounted cheerfully all of Emily Murphy’s accomplishments. She was a hero. Cue my mom conundrum
Do I let my kid continue on blissfully unaware or was it time to have a chat about how historical figures are celebrated and taught about in this country. The kid was 10. And I was panicked - how do I take apart her new hero and “attack” the person who made the person’s case?
At first she was incredulous. I was cast as the “ruiner” or the one who just *has* to take everything apart. But this was important. We began by talking about my doctoral research on head tax legislation. We looked at head tax payer certificates. We talked about laundries.
We talked about restaurants. We talked about the railroad. And then we talked about Janie Canuck. Emily Murphy wrote under that pen name when she published blatantly racist articles targeting the Chinese. Her exposé known as The Black Candle saw Murphy tour Chinatown at night.
She reported the most salacious and lascivious accounts - opium dens, gambling halls, prostitutes, filth - it was a hot seller. But what she failed to also report was the needs that all of those “vices” or problems met. She failed to see the struggles within.
Most men living in Chinatown were married bachelors - unable to live together with their own families. Forced to live in a racialized ghetto and forced into only a few “acceptable” industries to eke out a living. Emily Murphy didn’t talk about any of that.
She was an ardent anti-Chinese crusader amongst other unsavoury elements of her character. The kid looked at me with two fat tears ready to fall. But mom - why didn’t any one tell me this? And that’s the problem, hey? We become too attached to the images we create.
We love our statues and our memorial parks. But we don’t love to talk about the shadows. Emily Murphy is a Canadian icon. She achieved great strides for women in Canada but she was also a determined racist and eugenics supporter. Full stop.
So on Persons Day, I’m celebrating the achievements of these five women that made women persons under the law and opened so many doors for us. But I’m also acknowledging that these women were often greatly flawed and imperfect.
Their legacies have been artificially constructed into something we can all get behind and then be made feel guilty if we don’t. We cannot speak about their achievements without speaking about their racism and discrimination. We cannot.
Emily Murphy is a hero, sure. But she was also a racist. And that’s it. She achieved greatness but she had deep hateful convictions that were harmful to others. It’s about time we started having these conversations w/ our kids instead of crusading about statues.
