The American tyrant and racism in Canada
“HEY LADY, did your white husband meet you online?” A random and unprovoked question directed towards a family member of mine living in Alberta. She’s Canadian, has been living here for more than two decades and that was one of several verbal assaults she and her young daughters faced one afternoon last week.
We may have thought we are ‘Canada The Good,’ but racism flourishes. Bigoted, ignorant and intolerant as ever, racists are now feeling emboldened, thanks in large part to the xenophobic president of the United States of America.
Perhaps driven by the same tiny hand insecurities of Trump and other alt-right nationalists, these racists are certain their path to respect, stature, and manhood — womanhood ,too — can only come through scapegoating. They need to blame someone else for their own deficiencies. Blame others for their inability to get or hold onto a good job. Blame others for their relationship failures. In fact, blame others for all their failures because otherwise, one would need to face up to and accept responsibility. And accepting responsibility is only for those strong and capable enough to handle it.
In my family member’s case, her abuser was female and, judging from the recap of the incident, this woman fit the typical profile of an insecure coward for whom intolerance is used as a cover for her own inadequacies. Need to feel better about yourself? Why bother with the hard and difficult work of self-examination and improvement when it is so much easier to pick on a mother enjoying some special time in the park with her two daughters?