Unacceptable intolerance
Could this be why we have had such a hard time [historically] retaining and attracting immigrants from a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds in our province?
This is one New Brunswicker who realizes the damage that such a narrow view can have on the growth of a society.
4 Comments:
I was there when Jay-Young received that message. Most of us were in shock.
It's good this stuff is out in the open and being talked about but the way its portrayed nationally you would swear every white person in Saint John is a racist. That's crap. The idiots that are pulling this stuff are (ironically) in the minority. Call them on it and charge them to the fullest extent of the law but every time something like this happens the media rushes to paint an entire community as the next coming of the KKK. That's just not true.
Jay's a good councillor and deserves the community's support. I'm hopeful he also has this all in perspective and realizes these are a few putzes that need to be caught and punished by the law. I'm sure he gets lots of calls and while without a doubt this one is troubling it is not indicative of the entire population.
You're definitely right spinks, it's not all of them. However, it's not just a small group of idiot vandals who spray paint on walls and write threatening letters either.
From my experiences living in Fredericton, Charlottetown and Halifax over the years (just speaking in terms of this region), there are a large number of what I call "silent racist" or "bigots" who you wouldn't have thought harboured those kind of thoughts in a million years. But they do.
And unfortunately, again from what I have personally seen and heard, they are leaders in positions of power academically, people in businesses and politicians.
To be honest, I think that this type of racism can be attributed more to the fact that many have lived in a homogeneous society their entire life. In other words, it's a lack of knowledge of another culture more than it is unfettered racism.
Clarification: the media do a terrible job at reporting racism, not to mention, reporting intolerable remarks.
Plus, there are always guys like Al Sharpten around to make political hay out of these types of things. As much as I disagreed with the comments made by Don Imus and Joe Biden, I thought it was absolutely despicable for the media to go on a feeding frenzy like they did with both men.
I mean, where's the justice? Was Don Imus hip enough to come up with that line on his own? Or did he learn it from a genre or culture that promotes that type of biggotry? Methinks it's a bit of both, but in the end, he, his career and his pocket book took a big hit/fall.
As for all the fuss with Biden's comment in the media, here is what the guy who the comment was directed at thought: "He was very gracious and I have no problems with Joe Biden," said Obama, who "took no offense" at Biden’s comment. Too bad more disputes like this couldn't be solved in a civil manner.
I think we have the media to blame for that. Like you said, they definitely like to paint everyone with the same brush when it comes to racism.
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