So I’m standing at the corner of Brunswick and Carmicheal St. the other Sunday waiting for a cab. I called two cab companies and watched as numerous cabs drove by (I counted four cabs that just drove around the block continuously). At least ten cab cars drove by my friends and I (myself and one other friend being African-Canadian and the other two Caucasion). We couldn’t hail done a single cab and we watched frozenly as they all smirked at us as they drove by. What I don’t understand is why the cab drivers would begin to pull over as my caucasion friends hailed them down but as soon as they seen myself and my African-Canadian friend they sped away (a group of caucasions came up beside us and hailed a cab, not more than 5 minutes and they were sitting in a warm cab), sadly the only African-Canadian cab driver who drove by, was the only cab driver to pick us up. Seriously Halifax….it’s almost 2008, I think it’s time to get with the times!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This article appears in Dec 27, 2007 – Jan 2, 2008.
I agree with you, but what do you see on the news all the time..? A Black guy being escorted into the courthouse for something. Even though there are crimes committed by all races, this is the majority of what’s reported. So, people see that time and again on TV and judge a person by the color of his skin. Idiotic. And sad. Sometimes I think this city is one of the worst in Canada, then I go to T.O. If you think it’s bad here, travel a bit.
Your letter is sadly not suprising LITC. While there are a lot of very nice, open minded people in Halifax, the amount of racism I witnessed there was appalling and I think far worse than Toronto- unless you consider the media which is terrible everywhere. I’ll never forget my cousin’s sleezy stripper girlfriend refusing to shake my ex’s hand because he was Asian. I’ll never forget the way people blatantly qawked at us in all their slack jawed glory. I’ll never forget people giving me dirty looks because they expected me to speak for him since trying to decipher his accent was too much for their ignorant ears to bear. I’ll never go back to Halifax!