Posted on 5 July 2015

Andray Domise on racism in North American generally, and Canada specifically:

“Despite the appalling lack of diverse representation in our politics and business, and overrepresentation of people of colour in our penal system, Canada is especially susceptible to the myth that we have outgrown racism. Many will be quick to tell you that here, racism claims a much lower body count than it does down south. That myth has permitted white Canadians to look the other way while we’ve had to deal with the worst of them. A couple of years back, in Georgina, Ontario, a black teenager was beaten by his white classmates while others crowded around shouting, “Pound the nigger!” The assault happened in the same school where the Confederate flag waved so freely that complaints from black parents forced the local school board to ban it. It happened in the same city where Asian Canadians were being swarmed by white mobs and thrown off fishing docks with such regularity that the practice was given a name: nipper-tipping. But to hear white residents tell the story, all of this can be excused by the feeling that they are now minorities in their own country. I spoke about this story often with white friends at the time, and I can’t remember one conversation I had where someone didn’t pitch the refrain, ‘Well, at least we’re not as bad as the States.'”

Claiming moral superiority to a different country is not an acceptable response to racism in our own backyards, and yet it’s a route Canadians often take when hearing uncomfortable things about both our past and our present. Just the other day I was going through the #YouMightBeARacist hashtag on Twitter, and saw a (white) Canadian proudly proclaiming our country didn’t need it because we don’t have racism. That’s a dangerous attitude.
Highly, highly recommended read.

Filed under: Canada, links