It is often said of Toronto that it is a great world model for showcasing and highlighting cultural diversity, toleration, ethnic co-operation and so forth. You may concur with this statement. Toronto is indeed a city which is comprised of people from various ethnic and cultural backgrounds. There is hardly any doubt about that, as one quick trip to viturally anywhere in the city will show. However, despite all of the liberal rhetoric, the question must be asked, "Does cultural diversity, multiculturalism, and toleration" really foster a greater sense of cohesion among people of different backgrounds, or is it stifling collective growth?" In observing the social climate over the past two decades, along with drawing from personal experience, I would conclude that multiculturalism may not be as beneficial as some people think.
By my surname, you may have correctly concluded that I am of Asian descent. I, like my younger brother and sister were born in Hong Kong, and in 1977, my parents emigrated to Canada along with their three children, and we spent five years in Edmonton, Alberta. In 1982, we moved to Ajax, Ontario where my Mom, Dad, my sister and her husband still live. In both Edmonton and Ajax, I have seen my fair share of racial tensions, and have concluded that prejudice and racial tension stems from an unwillingness to get to know another person, particularly taking the initiative to fight off initial prejudices. However, read closely here: interaction goes both ways.
From grades 4-8, I attended a school in which the student population was overwhelmingly white, with a very small handful of visible minority students. As such, it was not terribly surprising that from time to time, I would hear the occasional oriental joke, names, and what not, and 100% of the time, the person doing the taunting has never met me before (there were exceptions, of course). A funny thing happened though, with many of these kids. Once they got to know me, the jokes and name-calling ceased. But here is the rub and the central point: I did not allow the name-calling (as hurtful as it was, trust me) to force me into a ethnic ghetto community, or to avoid difficult situations and relationships, orto react in a way which re-inforces the prejudice.Once I made friends (some of whom were previously enemies), these new friends of mine would often come to my defence whenever someone else cracked a joke. From an early age, I had realized that people did not necessarily have a problem with me, but that they are making generalizations based on age-old stereotypes, and it was perhaps their way of dealing with something different. The best way, I found, to dispel these stereotypical notions is to get to not let their jokes get the best of me, while at the same time making efforts to try to know the other person, emphasizing commonalities instead of differences. To this day, I take this approach, even in my business relationships, not focussing on a colleague or client's known reputation, but simply taking on relationship and one interaction at a time, finding common ground and building from that point.
In saying all of this, here is where I see the current state of race relations in a melting-pot of a city. First off, advocates of multiculturalism argue that people are co-existing well within what has been called a "mosaic". Is this really true, though? In Toronto, there are numerous ethnic communities located in certain geographical points, which may rightly be argued as being segreational. There is Chinatown, Greektown, the Italian community, the Jewish community, the Black community, Little Portugal, and so forth. All the communites have their own little shops set up, their own restaurants and their own local hangouts. Sure, this may be great for tourist attractions, and I have definitely benefited from the tasty food offered up by these communities, but what about for relationship building? To paraphrase Reginald Bibby, who in his essay, "Is multiculturalism tearing us apart?" observes that although multiculturalism is beneficial in that it allows one to maintain their culture/heritage, the broader benefits of this cultural diversity are not realized unless interaction occurs between people of different cultural backgrounds." This is so true. Think about it. Let's say I enjoy humour. You are a person who also enjoys humour. If both of us do not make an effort to meet and discuss jokes, and what not, are we not robbing ourselves of an opportunity to share our mutual fondness of humour, and make one another laugh?
Of course, one may argue with me that these folks are making a valuable contribution to our collective society as a whole by setting up a business and stimulating the economy. I guess this may be technically true, but just who are the majority of the patrons of these establishments? I have found that many ethnic businesses draw their business mostly from within their own community. How does this benefit Canadian society as a whole, other than the feds getting some more tax money from businesses - at the very least, the feds don't discriminate - they'll suck you dry (monetarily speaking), no matter what your nationality is. My dad told me a while back that I'm an idealist; that I should deal with the stark reality that people are not comfortable with others who are different from them. My concern is not whether this behaviour or mindset exists, or whether it is real, but rather, is it right?
A person who believes that there are no racial problems in North America had better take another look. If the O.J. Simpson verdict more than a decade ago was any indication, racial problems are alive and well. Just recently, it was reported that, in the American South, some white teachers were caught doing hanky panky with black underaged students. The debate on many news sites focussed more on whether this will stir up racial tensions (since if it was a black adult and an underaged white female - the response probably would have been much different, and I tend to concur).
Personally, I see many factors which contribute to current existing racial tensions. For instance, it seems quite chic these days for people to cry racism at the drop of a hat. I have a real problem with people who do this. Of course, at times, this charge is valid, but in some cases, it is not. I am a frequent contributor on RedFlagDeals.com, which is a Canadian bargain-hunter website. Recently, some guy got on and said that he was an Asian guy who was seated at the back of a Swiss Chalet and he felt that he was a victim of racial discrimination. I read that and thought, "give me a break!" I am happy to get any spot after waiting - this person obviously already had something in his head. Thankfully, he was overwhelmingly chastised for taking such a ridiculous view, particularly when it was at a well established franchise restaurant (known to hire many visible minorities) in a large Asian surburban area, and besides...in 2007, almost every company out there has a zero-tolerance policy towards any type of discrimination. One would have to be foolish in order to do something like that.
When people are labelled as racist, when in actuality they are not, it can easily foster a sense of resentment and obvious defensiveness. In more than a few cases in Canada, when a white police officer shoots a black individual, all of the sudden, it becomes a racial issue, and more fuel is added to the fire. Forget the fact that the black person may be actually committing a crime, no different than a white person or anyone else getting shot in commiting the same crime. No doubt, there is policy brutality out there, there is unfair racial profiling going on, and no doubt, there are crooked cops, but one's first reaction should be to find out all the facts, rather than playing the race card on the first round.
I also feel that hiring quotas and associated affirmative action policies may be doing more harm than good. Sure, these practice may have evolved from honourable intentions, but the problem, as I see it, is that it is simply reverse discrimination. My arguments here are nothing new, as countless people have echoed these sentiments. As the old cliche goes, two wrongs do not make a right. I also find it to be a slap in the face of the individual being hired. Who wants to be hired on the basis of their skin colour? I certainly would be tremendously insulted if I found out that I was hired not because of my abilities or my aptitude or my attitude, but rather by what I look like in order to fill a quota. Hiring quotas/affirmative action may completely ignore one's skills and educational background, both of which a person has had to work hard to obtain. Furthermore, what message is this sending to visible minorities, women, and the disabled? That they can't "cut it" unless they need a certain push? That's nonsense. To be quite blunt, people should be hired on the basis of merit and qualifications, not by their colour or what they have between their legs. If I or my wife or my son was in a burning building, you can be pretty sure I'd like a person to rescue me (that is, if I needed to be rescued) who could actually lift me. I wouldn't care what they look like, but if they can save us, hey, that's what counts.
Finally, two trends which trouble me greatly. The first one is criticism which I get saying that I am a cultural traitor, that I am too westernized, etc. All of this criticism comes from, thankfully, only a handful of people. Put quite simply, this is my response: there is no doubt that environment plays a role in one's development. As such, I was essentially brought up in North American culture, like millions of other Asians. I had very little difficulty in adjusting and adapting to Canadian culture. Frankly, I thought it was quite cool that I was able to "get the best of both worlds", as my parents would make efforts to try to ensure that I had some knowledge of my cultural background (and to this day, I am so thankful for this). Since a very early age, I was enrolled in a Chinese heritage program, and for a good seven years in Toronto, went through the program (it was on Saturdays), often scoring high on exams, penmanship contests and what not. All the while I was also attending public school and learning Canadian history, art, gym, and so forth. To this day, I can still carry a conversation in Cantonese as well as English. I really suspect that my critics are not making much of an effort to get to know me first (yet, am I crying discrimination per se?). As well, I suspect that these people have had a harder time adjusting to Canadian culture, and may resent my relative ease of adjusting. I believe that it comes down to one's willingness to accept his/her new country and learn some of its customs. So many minorities complain that they are being misunderstood. The question which I often pose is, "are you making an effort to get to know someone else?"
As a Bible-believing Christian, I have been struggling with the second trend for a number of years. The second trend concerns itself with how culture and ethnicity affects the local church at large, and while I can easily devote an entire article on this topic (I probably will), I will try to keep this short and concise. Over the years, I have been more and more convinced that homogenous churches are nothing more than ethnic social clubs (I'm not just talking all-Asian churches here, but I'm talking about all-white or all-black churches as well - both of these are in abundance in the Toronto area). Of course, I have met a number of people at homogenous churches who put the Word of God first over cultural aspects, and I know of quite a few very Godly men and women who hold leadership positions in ethnic churches. Still, I wonder what the role of the ethnic church is, other than to impart the message of the Bible to those whose mother tongue is not English. The young people at many of these churches are completely fluent in English. There are services which are entirely in English. Yet a number of these young people do not attend camps and church retreats unless they are with other churches of the same ethnic background. Somehow, I don't doubt that parents are to blame here. I am entirely convinced that homogenous churches provide a certain degree of cultural comfort, and feel so strongly about this topic that when a guest speaker came to one of our church and missions courses at the college (many years ago when I was young) and spoke on this topic, I openly debated him about why I do not believe that the homogenous church is fostering that universal bond between the body of Christ (usually, I don't say anything in class). Instead, the body has splintered off, with one part not being terribly sensitive the others.
I used to attend an all-Chinese church, as it was our family church. In 1995, I left that and joined an non-denominational multi-cultural, multi-ethnic church. Our pastor (who has since left) had a great conversation with me once about the fact that even though a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural church grows a lot slower than an ethnically homogenous church, the Biblical model is that there should be no distinctions between believers (Galatians 3:28, I think). As such, I really think our church is doing great things in bucking the megachurch trend (most of the large megachurches in the U.S., with some exceptions, are pretty homogenous).
Well, these are my thoughts on this matter. Please, by all means feel free to share yours. I would be interested to hear what you have to say. Thanks for taking time out to read this.
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