Quote:
Originally Posted by Cactus Jack
I see what your saying but what about natives in the US? Or better yet, Canada. Europeans took their land, brought diseases, mass murdered them and built nations and economies over their land with little consideration for them while putting them on small reserves. It's been hundreds of years and they are still alienated and poorly integrated into society. Sure, when you see one committ a crime, harass people on transit or make asses of themselves while wasted they don't do themselves any favours but neither have the majority. All parties are to blame.
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Just as a personal anecdote, when I went to San Fran a few years back, I was in a restaurant, and I noticed something really interesting. There was a table of Natives in the restaurant, and a table of Blacks, and the rest were something else, but mostly white. I noticed that the Natives acted comfortable, and like everyone else, while the black table didn't seem like they were comfortable with where they were. I noticed this a few other times in the city. It struck me as odd because the natives had a completely different attitude about them - they seemed completely integrated. Not like here.
I know this was just one anecdote, but it got me thinking their situation has a lot to do with exactly that - their situation. I don't know the whole situation, but there seems to be something similar in the situation of the Natives here (Alberta, Sask, and Manitoba), and the Blacks down there (California). The fact that these two groups seemed to have opposite attitudes suggest that it is the situation they are in - be it their own subculture's or lack of it, or how the rest of society views them, I don't know. The fact that it is opposite suggests it's not genetics, but a cultural thing, whatever that is.
Note my comparison is to two very narrow areas, there are likely parts of Canada and the States where the situations are very different in many respects.