News Brief

Is Maclean’s Hiding Barbara Amiel’s “Negro Patois” Column from the Internet?

Two weeks ago Maclean's Magazine published a column by a British Baronness in which she used the word "negro" to describe black people, whom she described collectively as a "heap," with Barack Obama at the top and "an inert black underclass" at the bottom. The article, titled "Class, Not Race, is America's Real Problem" is an actual, unironic thing that ran in a mainstream Canadian newsmagazine in 2015. But you won't find it online. Unlike the rest of Maclean's content and every other Barbara Amiel column, the piece was not posted online following its appearnce in the print edition.

Two weeks ago Maclean’s Magazine published a column by a British Baroness in which she used the word “negro” to describe black people, whom she described collectively as a “heap,” with Barack Obama at the top and “an inert black underclass” at the bottom.

The article, titled “Class, Not Race, is America’s Real Problem” is an actual, unironic thing that ran in a mainstream Canadian newsmagazine in 2015.

But you won’t find it online. Unlike the rest of Maclean’s content and every other Barbara Amiel column, the piece was not posted on Macleans.ca following its appearance in the print edition.

We’ve posted it at the end of this article.

I asked Maclean’s Managing editor Sue Allan (who I used to work for when I blogged for Maclean’s) why the piece hasn’t appeared online, and if she plans to post it (to my knowledge, she runs the website).

She referred me to Maclean’s top Editor, Mark Stevenson. He hasn’t replied to multiple requests for comment.

It’s possible that they just haven’t gotten around to posting the column yet. It’s also possible that after the intitial online reaction to the print version, Maclean’s editors decided to downplay the piece in order to avoid an even greater backlash.

Andray Domise responds to the column for CANADALAND here.

The original column follows:

*****

“CLASS, NOT RACE, IS AMERICA’S PROBLEM” by Barbara Amiel

Amiel1Amiel2

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