In my almost 30 years born and raised in Halifax as a mixed race Canadian, I am not unfamiliar to misconceptions about my heritage. However, in a disagreement over a parking spot (which I acquired), I was the recipient of profanity and racial slurs in front of my wife and two-year-old. I was deeply saddened that not only is racism still a problem, but that there are those who think that it and profanity are acceptable in the presence of a child. I admit that I lost my composure and yelled at you, only escalating the situation; and for that I apologize. —A mixed race parent of a mixed race child
This article appears in Jan 12-18, 2017.
And once again we generalize for the purpose of making a point.
Let’s be clear: in this incident only one person made a racial slur. But you decide that the entire parking lot/city/province/country/hemisphere/world is racist.
Now, because I criticize your bitch, I will be labeled racist; but I’m not. I don’t care what fucking colour you are; in this case I just think you’re an ass.
You are to be commended for “only” yelling back. When family and loved ones are targeted all bets are off. Does an incident like this prove that racism is endemic in Nova Scotia? I guess that depends upon those who have a vested interest in either proving or defeating a larger point. The sad reality is, there are pig-ignorant fuckwits, everywhere. Does a fleeting encounter with a moron make this community a simmering hellhole waiting to erupt in sectarian violence? Or would you be pacified with the standard argument that, violence is decreasing, crime is dropping and citizens have never been safer?
There is no excuse for racial slurs. None.
Don’t apologize for getting heated at racist comments. We have to shut that shit down when it happens.
Racism is natural, part of life. For instance did you know that before Christ only Jews went to heaven? That’s pretty damn racist if you ask me.
The underlying issue is that people get so crazy over a goddamn parking spot. If someone beats you to a parking spot then suck it up, let it go, take a deep breath … whatever it takes. It’s not the end of the world. It’s not your greatest humiliation ever. It’s just a parking spot. Is it really worth turning yourself into a seething animal just because you couldn’t get a few feet closer to your destination or to not wait a few more minutes / look a little further for another spot? Sheesh!
Isnt it redundant to point out that you are “A mixed race parent of a mixed race child”? Wouldn’t that stand to reason that your child would be mixed race if you are?
lmao Well how is this not surprising?
Out of 7 comments, only 3 make reference to the actual racist idiot spewing racial slurs. 4 (over half) are either attacking the person on the receiving end of the slurs, for generalizing everyone into a racist (which they didn’t if you actually read the bitch), or being redundant in their grammar, or if not attacking the post, then trying to make a crappy joke.
I’ll give half a point to the poster that made ref to the racist, in making them seem like an animal, but only half a point as they did not mention anything to do with the racist nature of this person’s seething parking spot animal coming out.
So I guess it’s more of a 3.5-3.5 even split! lol
Racism exists in Halifax and everywhere. This poster did not make any reference to Nova Scotia having higher rates of racism, so not sure why some people are getting so defensive. However, do not delude yourself into thinking that there is no racism. Also, acknowledging that there is racism does not make you or everyone racist, it just validates that many (probably all or most) people who are “not white’ or who are a “visible minority” will experience racism at some time, whether it is outright racial slurs or something more hidden or systemic. I think what the poster is describing is just terrible, I am sorry for them and their family and shame on the person making racial slurs. I also would have yelled at them. “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
On a side note, I hate the term “mixed race”. We are all human, “races” of humans is not founded in biology, they are social constructs created to explain physical variances found in humans usually related to cultural or geographical origins. Every person is a “mix” of their parent’s DNA and ethnic/cultural etc backgrounds. My daughter has a darker skin colour than me but she is not a different “race” of human nor is she a “mixed race”. Just like every child she is a mix of both her mother and father which includes some physical characteristics of each of us. However, to the world and all of the people who are still racist or who unknowingly subscribe to stereotypes and other hidden and systemic racism, she is still a person who is “not white” or a “visible minority” and this fact can not be denied as it is something that will affect her and influence her life experience.
Denying that there is racism as some sort of defence that you personally are not racist is not helpful and not true. Racism still exists everywhere in many different ways and affects many people. Acknowledging that this is true does not make you racist nor does it imply that “everyone is racist”.
Feel bad for you dude. There’s an awful lot of hillbillies around….