| You’re A Racist! Admit It! What are we to make of an Ipsos-Reid poll (January 2007) that found that one in six adults (17%) said they had experienced racism personally. Muslims* and Arabs - 38 per cent Aboriginals/First Nations - 31 per cent Blacks - 28 per cent East Indians - 24 per cent Asians - 14 per cent Jewish - 11 per cent Hispanics - five per cent We will all probably experience racism in one form or another during our lifetime. The Ipsos-Reid poll is beside the point. A question that is not beside the point is Can we be friends? From The Fractured Nation Interviews ... Maude: You should be careful when using that emotionally charged word. It has been my experience that those who accuse others of racism tend to harbour racist sentiments of the worst kind. Johnny: I am not a racist. Maude: We are all racist to one degree or another. Faced with a choice in saving a member of our race as opposed to another, we will tend to save one of our race, the same way a mother faced with the choice of saving her child or her neighbours will tend to chose her own. We do it without thinking. What I call pre-meditated cold-blooded racism is what we have to guard against. Racism that promotes hate; that promotes ideas that one race is superior to the other in all things … that sort of thing. To love your race is okay. To hate or demean other races is not. Johnny: You won’t get an argument from me there, however I don’t agree with your statement that faced with a black and white choice, no pun intended, between saving a member of our race as opposed to a member of another race we will tend to save one from our race. I think we will save the one that we consider a friend whatever his or her racial make-up. Maude: Johnny, Johnny, Johnny… you continue to surprise me. If what you are saying is we should all be friends, you won’t get an argument from me. .... ------------------- * Muslims are of course not a race therefore the first statistic may be more misleading than the others. For more information on why Muslims may feel more discriminated against please read Can We Be Friends? Bernard Payeur, January 18, 2007
|
