I don’t agree with Methadras Aszlosis , but he isn’t spewing hate just a difference of opinion based on what information has come to him via the media and his life experience. I won’t call him out for not agreeing with me.
It’s absolutely part of the problem in both Canada and the US that we seek to silence legitimate debate and discussion. Pushing street people doesn’t end homelessness and silencing his voice won’t change his mind. Inclusion, discussion and engagement changes the minds of others, that includes Methadras and anyone else.
Methadras I really appreciate your sharing your opinion and while I don’t agree with it, I think sharing it helps us understand what the issues are and how best to address them. I’m not knowledgeable enough to share with you compelling opposing views views because while we have racism in Canada it’s no where near anything as polarizing or systematic as what’s happening in the US. However I hope those with opposing views join you in a intelligent and open/public debate so that all of us may become more informed on the issue.
I believe the original author that you commented on (I can’t find her name as I’m writing this on my phone and don’t want to lose what I’ve written to find it) has done a great service already by educating us on how to show support when incidents happen that generally appear one-sided as these ones that we hear about in Canada have been.
The only issue I had was how she made such strong statements towards 'white people ‘ when clearly there were Asians in her workplace(s) and in her interactions and nothing was stated as to their reaction to her. It felt like it was deliberately left out and therefore demonizing to hose who worked for her in the past.
Until I read her article I know I would have never ever had the balls to approach a black person on this kind of issue, but I can promise you amongst all my non-black friends I had a conversation and there was concern being voiced about what is happening in the US and discussion regarding what is happening in Canada, whether we should be more alert here or if we are on pretty solid ground.
Honestly the risk of getting destroyed publicly and then fired would be so high as to totally dissuade anyone form saying anything without being first included by a black person. Trust me we are thinking and feeling people (all races and genders) and so we feel.
Even Methadras Aszlosis likely feels bad for the author, that she felt alone and isolated from her peers at work, but that’s not really his point and having sympathy for her doesn’t mean he has to agree with her.
We need to start looking at how we share, engage and listen to each other if we want these kinds of things to exit modern society or at best it’ll become a shared multi-race issue in the future and that’s not my personal goal. I want to see this level of ignorance, poverty and inequality removed from society full stop and nothing else is acceptable. This isn’t about just Black people; while they are representative and symptomatic of our massive behavioral flaws as a species/society though, because it could happen to any race, ethnicity,etc and it does all over the world. Recognize in all of us the problem exists and that WE do this to each other and it’s somehow tolerated each and every time. It shouldn’t be tolerated and we need to recognize this behavior is in our ingrained patterns of behavior as a species and that is what I hope we’ll change and soon. We’ll all benefit from this change, so let us all invest in that future.
#iamhumantoo
Mandela Schumacher-Hodge ! Went back and found her name. Still on my phone though so I’ll replace author with her name at lunch.
