Quote:
Originally Posted by _Q_
I don't think that Calgary is racist per se, but I think it is difficult for people that are obviously immigrants. I don't mean in skin color, ethnicity or religion, but rather in the way that you act. I find that I get treated the exact same way as other Calgarians, even thought I am a visible minority. On the other hand I have spoken to several immigrants, and they always tell me about incidents of racism. An example of this is going to the bar when I was younger with 10 of my Arab friends and we are all screaming at each other in Arabic while waiting in line which brings attention to us from the bouncers and in turn they get annoyed and not allow us into the bar. Now I go with probably the same amount of Arabs, but we keep it low key in line, then when we talk to the bouncer, we crack jokes and we have no problem getting in. Also, I think that any time a white person does anything bad to a minority, the minority cries racism, even if there is no evidence of it. If a white police officer stops a black man and gives him a speeding ticket, then usually the black man will say, "oh i wasn't even speeding that bad, that pig was just being racist."
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I think in a lot of ways there is "perceived" racism from a lot of new Canadians which simply isn't true.
"I got fired from my job because my boss is racist against Arabs." Sometimes really means: "I got fired from my job because I personally failed to the the research and adapt myself to the culture of the workplace".
Is there attitudes towards people of different races? Absolutely, we can't ignore that. But I think a lot of times it has to do with the new Canadian holding certain ideals (Canadian Culture will adapt to me vs. I need to adapt and incorporate certain aspects of Canadian Culture in my behavior).