According to the Black Experiences Project, the Greater Toronto Area is rife with racism. And it all seems targeted at blacks. If you read writers such as Desmond Cole, Royson James, Shree Paradkar or follow the gyrations of Black Lives Matter (BLM), you will be told that all the white people out there are co-conspirators in this action.
But, pardon me if I do not understand. Nobody is denying that there are racists in our society. We are hardly encouraging them. The recent outrage over the settlement with Omar Khadr brought a lot of them out of the woodwork. It gives you an idea of the size of the potential problem.
But Cole, James, Paradkar and the agitators of BLM, are sure not helping. They seem to want to divide people instead of bringing them together. In many ways, black can be beautiful but not when those people are feeding on the ugliness.
They are playing the wrong card in the game of life.
What is wrong is the bitterness they are building on. One of the most inclusive efforts in this city has been our Gay Pride week along with the parades. To interfere and bring the BLM agenda to the Gay Pride Parade was an insult to the city and an embarrassment to the black community. You will note that they are hardly likely to try that against part of their own community during the Caribana celebrations.
The diversity of the people of the GTA is in so many ways its strength. Maybe that statement rings false to you but I have watched this city grow and change since the end of the Second World War. I believe that most new arrivals since then have contributed to the richness that makes the city and the surrounding area so successful.
Toronto had its roots in Muddy York. The only people they looked down on originally were the impoverished Irish, escaping famines on their beautiful isle. Before WWII, we had some serious anti-Semitism with which to contend. There were so many parts of the world coming after that, we just adopted a welcoming mode.
We have created a city, and a province, and a country rich in the cultures and foods and the languages of the world. The secret to being accepted by this polyglot is to make yourself useful. If you want to stand apart and complain instead of helping, be it on your own head.
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Copyright 2017 © Peter Lowry
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