(This article is continuation of the article on Racism and Discrimination)
By Suresh Kurl
The following are just a few examples of Skin tone based racism found impacting coloured human beings. Let us start from the country where thousands of South Asians have chosen to live their lives feeling settled. Though the examples of Canadian racism are few and far in between, they are strongly significant. Start from the 1914 incident of the Koma-gata-maru Japanese ship that entered the Vancouver Harbor with 376 Indians passengers on board, but only 24 of them were allowed to disembark, the remaining 352 had to return to India; all because of Sir Richard McBride, the then Premier of B.C., who did not want coloured people to enter his province, because, “to admit Orientals in large numbers would mean the extinction of the white people. And we always have in mind the necessity of keeping this a white man’s country.”
Then, unlike the Koma-gata-maru, 907 Jewish refugees came aboard the MS St. Louis, seeking shelter in 1939. They too were denied entry to Canada. The ship returned its passengers to assumed safe harbours in four European countries. However, sadly, 254 of them later perished in the Holocaust. But the Canadian discriminatory policy did not end there; it continued. In 1942, Japanese Canadian citizens were forced out of their homes into internment camps.
Changes in the Canadian thinking started from 1957, when Prime Minister John Diefenbaker appointed Ellen Fairclough as Secretary of State, who liberalized immigration policies. However, nothing changed substantially until Prime Minister Pear Elliot Trudeau took the control of this country. He changed the face of immigration policies, reinforcing the existing Bill of Rights (1968) by enshrining the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982) in the Canadian constitution.
Let us talk about 1945 Europe and Adolf Hitler, the God Father of racists. He loved and propagated racial purity and slaughtered six million innocent Jews to make his point, “…It is, in any case, undesirable that one race should mix with other races. Except for a few gratuitous successes, which I am prepared to admit, systematic cross-breeding has never produced good results. The desire to remain racially pure is a proof of the vitality and good health of a race.” — The Political Testament of Adolf Hitler; 13th February 1945
I opine, racism and discrimination are still alive and breathing in certain European cities. For example, Vienna and Bruges were the two cities we experienced blatant intolerance and rudeness towards the people of colour. Immigration officers were determined to make us miss our flight. They put us in a room where there was no exit except stairs to go to the upper floor, but happened to be locked from the other side. Fortunately, we heard the sound of a couple coming down. They opened that door which we grabbed to escape.
Let us talk about our southern neighbours; their 1950 film, “No Way Out;” clearly describes the racist behaviour of a white mother, who ordered Dr. Sydney Poitier to “Keep your black hands off my son,” whereas, allhe was trying to do was to treat the bleeding wounds of her son. Then, what about Harper Lee’s 1960 film “To Kill a Mockingbird;” depicting white and black prejudice!
My memory of the 1970 racial riots of Los Angeles, burning of businesses and images of savagely being beaten Rodney King, a black man by white Police Officers are still alive in my mind. They are followed by the 1976, Alex Haley’s “Roots,” a lively portrayal of skin based racism…I bet you remember May 25, 2020 brutality against George Floyd; a black man! One of the four arresting Police Officers had pinned him down with his knee on his neck for almost nine minutes and killed him, while Mr. Floyd continued to say, “I can’t breathe.” Mr. Floyd suffocated and died.
What about May 15, 2022 episode, when a white gunman, named Gendron sought out Black victims. The offender had been fixated on the “great replacement” theory, which posits that there is a plot to supplant white Americans with supposedly more tractable minorities. “That world view, in this Trump-distorted era, is not rare… There is a group of people in this country (the USA) who are trying to replace native born Americans with immigrants who agree with their political views….Thirty-two per cent either ‘somewhat” or “strongly” agreed.” — The New Yorker; May 30, 2022; page: 13.
However, despite how I feel about these racist incidents, I am fortunate to be born in India and living in Canada. My karma must have a big hand in bringing me over here, or I could have been born in Haiti to be forced to sexually assault my own mother (2010), or born in Bosnia to be killed and thrown in the river (1992) during their ethnic cleansing, or living in Rwanda to be killed as a Tutsi (1994).
