Dear Editor,
As an activist who has worked hard all his life to bring equality and fight racism, Donald Trump’s election as 45th President of the United States this week has filled me with dread and concern.
Throughout his campaign Mr. Trump had unabashedly spewed racism, divided communities and has even been endorsed by KKK. Now that he has emerged victorious it worries me that encouraged by his racist rhetoric, such elements in BC will start rearing their ugly heads again.
In fact I feel they already have. Just a few weeks ago, there were reports of the KKK distributing leaflets in Chilliwack. In addition, a man in Abbotsford was also caught on video making horrific racist remarks. We are indeed living in turbulent times and victory of Donald Trump as the President of the world’s most powerful country makes me wonder if years of hard work by activists and antiracism leaders to make the world a better and a more equal place might just go to waste?
To directly combat racism within B.C. in 1980, we established the B.C. Organization to Fight Racism, and prevented the KKK from moving their hatred to BC. We had great support from the community then and we were successful in stopping them from establishing themselves here. As I see the KKK once again getting active here, I urge all ethno-cultural communities to be vigilant and cautious. We need to unite together to stem the tide of racism if it is indeed directed towards us here in Canada.
Charan Gill
President Of PICS
