Passing on the First Stone
16 April 2008 - 12 ניסן 5768 by Huw
As hard as I work to overcome my own internalised racism, I’m made very aware of it on a daily basis.
Listening to the CBC news this weekend, driving around Hamilton, Ontario, as well as reading the paper, I was struck by the total lack of something: race. THere are no races in Canadian News. When describing people as suspects in a crime, we’ll get age, height, weight and hair colour: but no race. When reading about the spate of muggings in the East End of Hamilton on Saturday, I was floored by descriptions of two young men… race unknown. Mind you: the CBC never said “race unknown”. But in my head I “knew” they were blacks. And I was “certain” of what these youths looked like.
This, of course, says *nothing* about the CBC and a hell of a lot about me.
I think it also says something about American culture: because to the extent that we *expect* to hear such descriptors we engage in racial profiling. I’m reminded of how all the good and prayerful Episcopalians on EcuNet insisted that Arab Muslims had bombed Oklahoma City - and how much fun I made of them when it turned out to be a nice white guy. And lo, I’m just as messed up.
As is usually the case, the truth is somewhat more complicated. Racism still exists in Canada, but it looks and sounds differently than you’re accustomed to. Canadians typically pride ourselves on being tolerant of others, and this may be one of the reasons why xenophobia generally remains buried.
Perhaps part of the difference in outlook between Canadians and Americans is that the metaphor we’ve adopted for the Canadian identity is that of mosaic, rather than melting pot. We expect that there are differences, and to a large extent we manage to accept and even celebrate these differences. Since “vive la différence” is so deeply ingrained, there is rarely a need to talk about matters such as race.
Off-hand, I can think of two exceptions to this general rule: recently in Quebec, there has been some resistance to Muslim women wearing the hijab. The Québécois attitude in this instance is almost akin to “Welcome to America, now talk English.”
The other exception is the way many people who consider themselves conservative Christians view homosexuality. Even in this case, I’m unaware of a Canadian equivalent to Fred Phelps, and after your experience last June I’m sure you’d agree there is a real difference in the way Canadians have approached the matter.
I’d be the first to be surprised if racism was *totally* absent from Canada (or any place, for that matter), but, at least as far as the CBC reporting went it was very race-free.
But yes to your last points. I can testify.
:)
Ya, something I have been observing for sometime and yes even in myself. Though even the ways we want to be tolerant and not-racist involve this concern over, maybe even obsession with, race.
Your reflection reminds me that at times I wonder if our (the US) attempts to resolve racism are in fact still racist, just simply kindler gentler racism.
The North East West South extreme reality segments entertainment are always a diss appoint meant to be provocative only to the basest of impulses.
Women’s views on feeling safe in
Canada, United States and Sweden:
http://sarahhughesphoto.com/
David - thank you for bringing the topic of women into this conversation. While I was in Hamilton, I had a wonderful discussion with a group in the H+H Gallery. One woman shared with me that she had been to Johannesburg and out to “the Townships” and in many other places around the world. But she had only felt afraid in Buffalo and Detroit.
I’m not sure what that says about our culture here, but I tied it directly to something Brodie has said to me: while he was travelling in the states, he was amazed to find that many African Americans act “like they do on TV”. He says he’s never met people like that in Canada. Again, not sure what that says about our culture here, but it says a lot more about other folks’, as well.
While I am mindful that most folks of European Ancestry are white… I think it’s interesting that Canada and New Zealand seemed to have developed one way while the US and Australia did another. England one way, Ireland another…
Peter, I don’t mean to over simplify, and I realise Brodie doesn’t live in Toronto City Centre, either. But I take these criticisms at face value because they come form outside rather than inside our culture here: I’m amazed at the the difference between persons of African Ancestry in Buffalo vrs Hamilton. Mindful that, especially close to the border, there must be a few people on both sides that can claim to be descendants of slaves, it’s amazing what 60 miles and a different culture will do for a people.
Huw, I’ve read enough of your writing to know you do not over simplify. I certainly didn’t mean to imply that you had. I realize you were talking about the media coverage as much as your own reaction.
One thing which bemused me while living in PA was hearing people talk about “the black experience” in America, as if having a certain minimum amount of skin pigmentation meant that there was a mystical union amongst all African-Americans.
Just after the Rodney King riots, an author living in Toronto wrote a play whose characters were all black men living in Toronto. He chose to make the dual fact of their skin colour and city of residence the only common feature, mainly to point out that their experiences will be as different as their backgrounds. A Christian immigrant from Kenya, a Muslim immigrant from Somalia, an animist immigrant from Nigeria, a Rastafarian immigrant from Jamaica, a descendant of an escaped American slave — to reduce each of these unique persons to some generic “black experience” is nothing less than essentialism. (And yes, I recognize the irony in using such broad categories to point out the uniqueness of persons. Ah, well.)