Lives Matter

Excuse me if I don’t limit the “Lives Matter” slogan to just black people.  It should also apply to Indigenous peoples in Canada as well as other marginalized peoples.  2020 could be remembered as the Lives Matter year.  In most of Canada outside a few big cities, racism applies to Indigenous peoples more than to black people.  Of course there is racism in Canada.

 

I cannot understand racism in any form.  Probably because I was not brought up that way.  My father and mother had respect for everyone.  So, it is hard for me to see any reason why anyone would resent, fear or hate anyone of another colour or ethnic group.  It constantly baffles me that we can extol black and indigenous athletes and movie stars and yet be prejudice against common people of similar races.  You can condemn an individual for what they did or are doing, but you cannot condemn an individual for what they are.

Many years ago, I was a young naval officer on exchange with the US Navy.  It was the early 1970s, not long after the civil rights movement.  We were stationed in Newport, Rhode Island in supposedly liberal New England.  A few months after I got there, our command was told that the following summer we were being moved to Charleston, South Carolina, the heart of the old south.  We had a black Petty Officer on the staff who was originally from Brooklyn, New York.  I asked him one day what he thought of the move south.  His answer was quite insightful I thought.  He said, “At least down there I know what to expect.”  He was pointing out that in the so-called liberal north, the racism was more subtle but still present, whereas in the south the prejudice was overt and expected.  In Canada, we are much more like liberal New England where most of the prejudice is more subtle and unknown where and when it will take place.

People talk of systemic racism – that the racism is built into the “system”, whatever the system may be.  But that is a cop-out.  It takes away the individual responsibility that is really at the heart of racism.  It is individuals who make the decision to hate, abuse and even kill minority people.  You will not find any written directive in any reputable company, government or organization in Canada that advocates racism.  It is individuals who carry out or support any form of it.  It is individuals who must take responsibility for any “systemic” racism: the HR manager who will no accept any resume from a black or indigenous person; the senior manager who refuses to promote a Muslim; or the foreman who gives all the bad jobs to Jews hoping that they will fail.  It is individuals who make decisions, guide policy and set rules, not some impersonal “system”.  No law or government edict will ever stamp out racism. 

This is the point that so many opinion writers will stop as if to say, “There, that is the problem.  Now someone else must fix it.”  But I’m going to venture on and try to offer some remedies. 

The answer lies in a change of attitude by all people.  Prejudice is often ingrained in childhood by parents, grandparents or by childhood friends who themselves have been indoctrinated.  This usually happens when children have not had access to black, indigenous or marginalized children.  Indoctrination overcomes experience.  So, to begin overcoming the problem we must start with the children.  But to do that, we must start with adults who will teach the children.  So is this a circular problem that cannot be solved.  Not necessarily.  We must find people who are not racist, and there are many such people, and use them to teach others.  We must expose children to children of different races so they can learn that they are people just like them.  We cannot entrust such attitude changes to government. It will take time and commitment by each of us.  It must start with individuals and in the home.  We must make racism an attitude that will not be tolerated.