Looking back on today, it's sad that the most notable thing that happened was a very ugly thing. And it apparently didn't happen to just me, but I think I sure as hell returned fire when it was my turn.
It was a rather beautiful day in Ottawa; bright, fairly warm, and it being a beautiful day during Winterlude, crowded. Etienne and I set out and walked along the canal, where skaters were so thick, the people in the crowd weren't so much skating as they were trying to avoid running into someone while on skates.
We had reached the sidewalk outside of the Westin Hotel, when I noticed a shabby-looking man standing there, saying something to people. As we got closer, I saw he was an Aboriginal man. Closer still, I saw a smoke in his hand, so I thought maybe he was asking passersby for a light. But then as we were within earshot, we heard him shouting at a couple ahead of us walking by, and his words were ugly.
"You white people, you steal everything!", he proclaimed. The man in the couple said something back that I couldn't hear, but I assume it was dismissive, as the guy then turned in our direction, and as we got closer, shouted the same thing, this time in my face.
Now, I've never been the wallflower on this issue. When challenged in the past about my ethnicity, I've pushed back, and if my words don't convey the feeling, well, if you are familiar with the First Nations woman, you know that her attitude bloody well does. It's no coincidence that people around me have noted that you just don't want to piss off a Cree woman (or Dogrib, or, well, any First Nations woman).
Standing there was this ugly reminder that still, after nearly 500 years, there is just no room in the personal beliefs of some people for a pale-faced Indian.
I talked back. I told him to fuck off, that I wasn't a "white" person, I'm a fucking First Nations. As we kept going, he shouted back to me. I'll spare you the words, but it was to the effect of "Fuck off you liar." Once more, I reacted, this time shouting back that I'd go back and show him my fucking card. Believe me, this asshole would not want me to go back there. I've inherited a lot of things from my father, and that includes my temper.
I didn't go any further in the ever-so-polite discourse, and kept on walking, while he turned his attention to the other unsuspecting passersby, but I seethed for a long time after that. These days, I hear a lot of racism, and as much as people don't want to hear this, the salvos can be fired from both sides.
A cure for racism...
...Wish you were here.
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