Quote:
Originally Posted by Vulcan
Yep and I'm getting pretty sick reading all the racist and ignorant comments. Makes me kind of ashamed.
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I hear what you're saying. The truth is, I think this is one of those times when the bravado conferred on people by anonymity makes them feel more free to use offensive language in talking about an issue, when if they were in a situation where they were more accountable for their words they might be more circumspect. But it is disappointing.
It does seem to me that there are two threads--the one where a phobic, anger-filled racism is expressed and another where a few are trying to talk about issues surrounding how Canada has dealt with its aboriginal peoples in the past. The first of those isn't worth responding to except to say that to react to a random act of violence with intolerance toward another ethnic group is more or less to give up the moral high ground.
As for the second, I think it's worth commenting that treaty rights were conferred on Native peoples in our country for a very simple reason--European settlers colonized their homes, displaced their people and occasionally committed murderous genocidal acts in the name of colonialism. Those rights are a form of compensation, and in the end they're not "special rights" so much as a woefully inadequate attempt to erase Canada's racist history. Unfortunately, it's not enough to say "that was all 200 years ago, so it doesn't matter" (not to mention factually wrong--200 years ago was 1808, and the history of these issues extends much later than that). The truth is that acts of racial violence such as those perpetrated on the First Nations of Canada tend to have a lasting, generational effect, and they're not so far removed in our history that we should expect them to be just a nice story that we tell our kids.
Furthermore, it's unwise in my view to generalize about an ethnic group in the way that a few in this thread have done. I would guess that the comments about "90% of Natives are this or that" have about as much validity as "90% of Edmonton fans are idiots." It's a statement that is said for effect, with the full knowledge that it isn't true.
The problem is that in this case that statement is damaging. There are posters on this board who are Native Canadians, and making racist generalizations like that will make those posters feel less welcome here. And that's the definition of racism: making someone feel like they don't belong because their skin is a different colour.
I have no problem with a variety of views on treaties, how the government should approach the First Nations, etc. etc. But I hope we can all move forward and talk about these things in a way that recognizes our diversity as a community and above all treats people with respect and dignity regardless of background.