| The following is a response to a racist
email that was sent to one of the editors/ writers here at Community
Insurrection. This email claims variously to be a reprint of an article
published in a Toronto newspaper, or based on an American or Australian
editorial, and has been widely circulating on the internet. Apparently it
is a shortened version of an article written in the days after 9/11 by
some white guy in Georgia, US. It was recently printed as an editorial in
the local newspaper in Port Alberni, BC. Our editors believe this email is
representative of anti-immigrant sentiment in Canada and BC and hope to
trouble some myths around Canadian identity in response.
From Racist Email:
I am tired of this nation worrying about whether we are offending some
individual or their culture. I am not against immigration, nor do I hold a
grudge against anyone who is seeking a better life by coming to Canada.
Our population is almost entirely made up of descendants of immigrants.
However, there are a few things that those who have recently come to our
country, and apparently some born here, need to understand…
We are happy with our culture and have no desire to change, and we really
don’t care how you did things where you came from. This is OUR COUNTRY,
our land, and our lifestyle.
Response--some issues to consider:
• “Canada” is founded upon the colonization of indigenous peoples;
“national identity” and “Canadian culture” are predicated on the idea of
white people as the original inhabitants of this land…which we aren’t.
This is not “our land”.
• Canadian national identity and culture have been constructed in
opposition to the perceived characteristics of “other” cultures: we’re
good, moral, modern; they’re bad, immoral, backward; these are racist
ideas that have been and continue to be used to justify imperialism and
colonization of indigenous populations and peoples all over this earth.
• When people say “Canadian culture”, they usually (without always knowing
it) mean British (and more specifically ruling class English) Protestant
culture, while people with English background make up a minority of the
Canadian population (less than six million people).
• Historically, English folks have been in positions of political and
economic power in Canada and imposed aspects of their culture on the rest
of us. Women they called “public health nurses” were even sent around to
non-English people’s houses to show them how to do things “properly”, i.e.
how to cook English food and adopt ruling class English standards of
cleanliness.
• Over time the idea of Canadian culture equaling British culture has
become powerful enough that it seems like common sense. But this has only
happened because the cultures of other people in “Canada”, especially
people of colour and aboriginal people, have been and continue to be
violently repressed, misrepresented, appropriated and manipulated by white
people and the state.
• Dominant “Canadian culture” is not representative of the population. For
example, the official statutory holidays reflect colonial British cultural
values.
• Some might argue that this is fair because non-British immigrants came
to what we now know as Canada much later. However, a little known fact is
that the very first immigrants to BC were Chinese. African-Americans,
indigenous people from Hawaii, and folks from Japan and India (to name a
few examples) have been in “Canada” for a long time, despite continuing
violent racist efforts to make Canada a white country.
• Some might say “but now we have multiculturalism”. But even the idea of
multiculturalism assumes that there is a “main”, “first” or “dominant”
culture, accessorized by cute and un-threatening “multicultures”.
From Racist Email:
We speak ENGLISH/FRENCH, not Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Chinese,
Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become
part of our society, learn the language!
Response:
• We speak Inuktitut, Cree, Ojibwe, Italian, Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese,
Japanese, Portuguese, Punjabi, Hindi, Russian, Farsi, and Urdu to name
only a few. French and English are merely the chosen official languages
through which the dominantly French/English colonial government
communicates and administers its colonial policies. These official
languages were chosen because they reflect well those holding power.
• The government has cut funding for language training programs for new
immigrants and moreover immigrant women were only very rarely given access
to these programs; few immigrants enjoy not being able to speak English
when it results in such abuse and economic marginalization.
From Racist Email:
IMMIGRANTS,
NOT Canadians
MUST ADAPT.
Response:
• If the Canadian state was not built upon and thriving on racism, then
dominant culture would change to reflect the populations that are actually
living on this land. Land that is first and foremost is indigenous land.
The racism that exists is evident in the fact that white immigrants
quickly become “Canadian” while people of colour, including those whose
families have been here for hundreds of years, are still imagined as
“immigrants” by white folks.
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