Racism

Today I received another racist e-mail and it got me thinking how much racism still abounds in our world. We do tend to look askance at what we're not familiar with and I'm just as guilty in my own way. I am uncomfortable about Moslems and probably always will be unless I get to know some of them well.

I remember seeing news reports in the 1960's about "white only" restaurants, schools, and drinking fountains in the southern States and thinking how awful this must make black people feel. As far as I know, this never happened in Canada so I'd never seen it in person. I also remember seeing the photos of those very brave children, protected by police, integrating white schools while madly raving white people were held back from attacking them. I was ashamed of my own race.

There's no doubt that racism has never been wiped out and probably never will be, at least not in the next century. We imperfect humans are prejudiced against many types of people...fat, old, skinny, homely, and anything other than what is considered the norm in our tiny little circles. We are definitely narrow minded and it takes a lot to drag us out of such limited thinking. Knowledge helps so there should be a lot of emphasis in our schools placed on acceptance. A weekly class on world religions and customs should be mandatory in every school because we tend to fear what we don't understand.

We often hear of the ignorant immigrant who comes into our country and demands that we change our ways and conform to his/hers but that is rare. Most immigrants come to this country because it is better than the one they left and they're happy to be here. They want to add to our culture, not change it.

I love the diversity of culture and races which makes our country a more interesting one. It can be a struggle for many of us, including me, to understand some of our immigrants but it's worth making the attempt because we'll all benefit in the end. All I expect is that any immigrant should come here with the intention of joining us and working with us to better our country. That's what my ancestors did when they emigrated to Canada from Ireland about a hundred years ago and it should be no different today.

Well, I talk a big game but I have my own prejudices to overcome. I'm trying.