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I moved to Waterloo Region two years ago. I had visited once before. I knew nothing about it. I have found a fairly welcoming city to call my home. Strong community in areas of my interest. But: I am a white male in my thirties. I exist in a culture that provides me impunity 1/
My privilege is not knowing fear, prosecution, violence, or death for simply existing. I have never been subjected to the racism and hate and prejudice that people who do not look like me experience every day. 2/
The relentless bullying and abuse I recieved during my childhood is a tiny fraction of what good, innocent people suffer regularly. Seeing the living, vile state of it in my adopted community makes me sick. 3/
Before this, I lived in Sarnia for three years. Sarnia is a tough place to move to. Extremely insular. Extremely conservative. Extremely racist. Lots of social problems, not the least of which was the way they treated the Indian students going to the college. 4/
Everyday I would watch the local students, who will likely live their entire lives, like their fathers and grandfathers, in the city, treat these exchange students as if they weren't human. I watched their fathers treat the bartender from Trinidad like she was worthless. 5/
I had to leave Sarnia. It was literally breaking my soul to live there. So I came here instead. Would I have, had I known what lay coiled in the grass of our community, choosing whose heels it struck at? 6/
I lived in Kingston most of my life. Big university town. Big military town too. Lot of diverse people streaming in and out between Sept and April. But a lot of angry townies who would spit on the ground as they passed them on the street too. 7/
I worked in a high school in the rural west end. There was a great kid there, Vincent. His mom was from Turks and Caicos. I heard him say once, in response to being asked what the ethnic diversity was like at the school, "I think I'm alright." 8/
I lived in Ottawa for a while. Still the place I consider home, when I think about it with my heart. The sort of city that has places you don't go if you want to stay stab free. The sort of place where you hear people being told they shouldn't be allowed on the bus. 9/
I have no experiences in my life that equal the injustice and inhumanity visited on others. I hate that no matter where I have been, it is a constant. Because it has been everywhere. Choosing not to go somewhere because of it means not having anywhere to go because of it. 10/
I used to dream about going into politics. My life thus far has taught me that mine is not a voice that is needed, nor a face that should be seen, nor an experience that needs to be drawn from. But I can help elevate those who should be heard and seen and lived. 11/
My privilege is not experiencing racism. My burden is admitting I was born into a racist patriarchal culture, and that I have benefitted from that. My goal is to not repeat the mistakes of the past, to learn, grow, and help the best I can.
We all have a long way to go. 12/12
We all have a long way to go. 12/12
