Many Prince George residents do not understand racism and its roots in Canadian history and culture. Some look at our U.S. neighbors and conclude that in contrast contemporary Canada is free of racism. Sadly, this is not the case.
Furthermore, if we do not actively oppose racism then we are complicit in its perpetuation.
There is no biological category called race; race is a socially constructed system of categorization that was created and is maintained to establish disparities in the distribution of resources and power.
Racism is deeply embedded in erroneous beliefs about innate differences between groups of people; these erroneous beliefs are widespread in our local community as well as across Canada and they are buried much more deeply in our culture than individual name calling or sporadic acts of hatred.
Contemporary Canadian racism toward aboriginal peoples is built on the historical foundation of dispossession, brutalization, and attempted cultural genocide; it is perpetuated and elaborated by the structural inequities that this history has bequeathed us. Our wealth as a nation is erected on the cornerstone of the dispossession of the aboriginal peoples. These acts of plunder over many generations are a huge part of what has built the privileges that we enjoy as Canadians.
Many Canadians feel that if they do not personally exhibit evil racist behaviour then they are absolved of any responsibility to oppose racism. This is not so; we don't get a "free pass" simply by pretending that the racism is "over" while we continue to enjoy the privileges that the racism has built into our social structures.
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." (John F. Kennedy [mis]quoting Edmund Burke)
It is necessary for all good people to actively oppose racism; otherwise we are complicit in its perpetuation.
Peter Thompson
Prince George
