One racist incident does not a country make
Re Racism is part of Canada’s character, Paradkar, May 10 Given what we now know about the incident at a Denny’s in Alberta, we could also say that drunkenness is part of Canada’s character.
I am not shocked by Shree Paradkar’s insight but I believe racism is part of the national character in virtually every country in the world. We should not be surprised by an attribute that, in its ethnic, racial or religious form, exists in virtually every country in the world. Bruce Couchman, Ottawa Shree Paradkar’s column really got me thinking. If an Islamic extremist carries out a terror attack, commits an honour killing or stones a gay person to death, we are told by our progressive media figures that it has nothing to do with Islam and doesn’t in any way reflect on anyone else. Muslims owe no apologies and need not engage in any critical self-reflection of themselves, their community or their religion.
Fair enough. Yet when some idiot makes racist remarks at a Denny’s restaurant in Alberta, suddenly we are told “this is part of our culture, both systemically and individually.”
Arguably it is to some degree. Canada is very tolerant by world standards, yet certainly isn’t perfect. But why is it Islamophobic to suggest extremism, misogyny and homophobia is part of Islamic culture? Jan Burton, Toronto Once again, Shree Paradkar finds an instance of racism in Canada and uses it to make her case that “racism is part of Canada’s character.”
Undoubtedly an open act of racism did occur at a Denny’s in Alberta. An overtly sensitive woman misconceiving a slight from another person, not fitting her Canadian profile stereotype, resulted in her very mean-spirited racist rant at an innocent man. No one denies those are the facts.
So Paradkar’s reporting on this race issue is commendable. The wrongs of society when it comes to addressing racial injustice need to be identified in order to be corrected.
But to extrapolate from the specific to the general — from one racist incident by one Canadian into a charge that all Canadians are racists — doesn’t address the real problem of racism but perpetuates more imagined versions of it. Criticizing racism by practising its flawed logic is counterproductive in the social movement to eradicate it.
Indeed, one racist Canadian resented the presence of one imagined Syrian in Canada when in fact he is from Afghanistan. But the rest of Canada tolerated the resettlement of 25,000 real Syrian refugees between Nov. 4, 2015 and Feb. 29, 2016.
Imagined racism is as dangerous as the real racism. Surely blaming and shaming all Canadians for the misbehaviour of one is racist. Tony D’Andrea, Toronto