Thread: Racism in the United States and Canada

Racism is as widespread in Canada as it is in the USA, and by no means only among "whites." Multicultural communities feature an interesting matrix of tolerance along with multiple racisms.

For example, in my Vancouver neighbourhood, I see a remarkable ability to get along day-to-day, but sometimes hear startling remarks from some of the same people I find so tolerant in their routine affairs! I have seen Hong Kong people sneer at Chinese mainlanders and vice-versa, while both look down on non-Chinese (more than once I've heard guai loh muttered under the breath in my presence, and many of us "barbarian freaks" in Vancouver know what that phrase means!). Meanwhile, I've seen Japanese sneer at Chinese for being "dirty," Sri Lankans sneer at Filipinos for god-knows-why, and of course nowadays everyone hates the Arabs unless they're thoroughly Westernized--and suitably grateful for such a "blessing."

Canada's large cities are the very model of a cosmopolitan community in our globalized 21st century!

However, while I think that while racism is probably as widespread in Canada as in the USA, I might suggest that the worst of the racism in the USA is worse than the worst of racism in Canada. The USA still labours under the weight of the legacy of its former institutions. For example you don't get things like the "Rodney King" riots here.

Canada, for its part, is still trying to deal with its own main institutionalized racism, i.e. with the Indians. This involves some tense incidents such as Oka, Gustafsen Lake, etc., but so far we've been both smart and lucky, and few lives have been lost. Fortunately, this legacy affects a smaller percentage of the population than the incubus of black/white relations in the USA.

If you go into a room full of Canadians most will hotly deny that their country or their people are racist. It is a good sign that to be known as a racist is itself seen as a serious stigma in this country.

Having racially and culturally diverse communities does not in itself free us from the problems of racism. Instead, an intricate matrix of attitudes, such as the one I mentioned above, tends to develop. Such multicultural communities as Sarajevo might go along peacefully for generations, but still shatter along ethnic lines even after groups have co-existed for a long time.

Hopefully Canada's experiment in multiculturalism will turn out better than the Ottomans'.