{"id":860,"date":"2015-08-26T23:53:47","date_gmt":"2015-08-26T23:53:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/?p=860"},"modified":"2015-09-04T12:37:58","modified_gmt":"2015-09-04T12:37:58","slug":"99-stories-racism-is-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/2015\/99-stories-racism-is-one\/","title":{"rendered":"99 Stories and Racism is One"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"plane_loading\"That moment when you\u2019re standing at the Dryden airport, surrounded by a sea of tan MNRF\u00a0travel shirts, brass nametags, and green Nomex pants. That moment when another white crew cab rolls up, and four crew people jump out, unloading their red and blue bags. Four new faces. Four new stories. That moment when the only seats left on the plane are middle seats, and you park yourself between two stranger rangers, and introduce yourself, asking them what base they\u2019re from, and what their stories are. This job provides many opportunities to get to know people. To learn how to get to know people. It takes you to different parts of the province by helicopter, float plane, truck, and private airline. You go all over the country with rangers from across the province. You spend your summer working beside the same three crew members, learning their ins and outs. But on deployment, you\u2019ll be alongside 16 new faces. You\u2019ll have to learn new quirks, new communication styles, learn the ups and downs of these new people.<\/p>\n

\"3guys\"Learning about people is something I\u2019ve come to enjoy. I love hearing their stories. People in this job come from all over, and have all travelled a different path to get onto the same one that you are currently both standing. While some of us grew up in a small town, with three stubborn siblings, two supportive parents, one blue minivan, and a ton of hand-me-downs, others grew up in three different communities, earned two DUI\u2019s, one high school diploma, and saw a parent wither away from a degenerative disease. And yet, here you sit, shoulder to shoulder, with someone who holds no higher or lesser rank than you, on a private plane, to go fight some fire. We are so fortunate to have exposure to many different people, and to use lessons from their stories to reflect on our own.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s so heartbreaking to be woken from a deep sleep in your tent by a negative experience from your crew. To hear their voices raise, and to feel the tension heighten when they come back from late night at base camp that ended with insults and racial slurs.<\/p>\n

\u201cNevermind Root, go back to bed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTell me. What\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJust typical. So typical. I\u2019m sick of this shit. I\u2019ve been dealing with it my whole life, people like him. Comments like that. I\u2019m just sick of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Racial slurs. With so many other things I\u2019ve learned being in Kenora, racism is one that is new. Serious racism. Is that not a thing of the past yet? Name-calling. Judgment. Disrespect.<\/p>\n

\u201cLazy Indians.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGo back to the res.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judging someone\u2019s misfortunes. His situation. Her current status.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s always posting that political stuff on Facebook.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so sick of hearing his rants.\u201d<\/p>\n

Undermining the importance of pride? Disrespecting freedom of individuality or identity development? I completely believe that racism is a learnt behavior and attitude. No one is born with the ability to distinguish and discriminate between skin colours.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanna write something about racism.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh. That. Well that\u2019s certainly something to write about\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy do you think it\u2019s even still around?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJust generations of treating people a certain way. You know what they say, that you aren\u2019t born with ability to hate. That\u2019s all taught.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really get it. I mean, at the end of the day, you\u2019re just limiting your ability and opportunities to grow and learn about others and about yourself. It must be exhausting to hate some people all the time\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell. People are afraid.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you mean, \u2018afraid\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know that quotation: \u2018Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.\u2019 The fear just goes way back, to when Europeans first came here and met us. They were just afraid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regardless of the explanation, it doesn\u2019t justify the continued behavior. The continued state of mind. The continued judgment. A lot of the racial slurs indicate that First Nations people are lazy, or drunks. Useless contributors to society. Complaining about the past and never moving forward. Using the system to get government money for drugs and alcohol. Laughing at their homeless status.<\/p>\n

\"FN_man\"My first months in Kenora, I was a bit confused on how to feel. Homeless people make me feel uncomfortable\u2014seeing them outside the grocery store in this small summer-home town was unexpected. I didn\u2019t know how to respond when my crew would laugh and take pictures of the homeless men hanging out on the shady grass. I wasn\u2019t sure what do when I walked into the Scotiabank late one night, and a drunk man on a high was catching some zzz\u2019s under the window sill. And so I turned a blind eye. I ignored it. Hearing the racial slurs on work time, I just ignored it. And then they started to creep into my head. And when I would see people hanging out on that same shaded grass, in my head, I would let out a sigh of exasperation and an eye roll. And when I saw that man, dreaming in the Scotiabank, I walked across the street, and told an OPP officer. And when I was waiting my fourth hour in Emerg for stitches, and I heard the doctor questioning a sobering man what he took, lecturing him on options for how to seek help, I thought \u201cyou\u2019re wasting your time.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s pretty easy to absorb and assume the opinions, observations, and attitudes of the people surrounding you. But accepting a racist stance is not where I came from. I grew up with equality. So racism is a little unnatural. It makes me feel mean. Confrontation is a little unnatural. It makes me feel aggressive. But overcoming racism requires more confrontational people, to say \u201cHey, that\u2019s really rude. Stop saying that.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s pretty hard to deny your own observations indicating that the majority of the homeless people in Kenora are First Nations; that a lot of the post-bar fights involve someone from the reserve; that pretty much all of the people hanging out on the streets are battling a substance use problem. But, in the science world, what comes after observation? Your study doesn\u2019t stop there. What about the analysis that follows\u2014how you\u2019ll interpret your own, untainted observations, in order to make reliable comparisons.<\/p>\n

If racism really is sprouted from fear, then I can understand a bit better why it continues, despite efforts to minimize its presence. Perhaps some people choose to belittle others to feel power or strength. Furthermore, judgment is part of human nature; we rely on it for survival\u2014is that man trustworthy? Is this food edible? The problems arise when a judgment continues with malicious intent. At this point, the judgment is doing nothing but limiting your opportunities for growth and development.<\/p>\n

And so, as I sit, on plane with 99 other tan-shirt, MNRF\u00a0employees, I\u2019ll look around. I\u2019ll ask questions, and I\u2019ll listen. 99 brass tags that represent 99 different stories. Different paths. And here we are, all currently standing on the same one. In a leather seat on a Boeing 737, bound Winnipeg for fuel, then Abbotsford to go work together, shoulder to shoulder, on a BC mountainside.<\/p>\n

Author Ariel Root<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0is currently in Kenora in her fourth season working as a forest fire fighter for the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry. \u00a0She has a BSc in Food Science & Nutrition from Carleton University in 2012, and is currently a graduate student in the Health Science, Technology and Policy program at Carleton University. She has been featured on APTN’s new hit TV show, Playing with Fire, Season 2.<\/p>\n

Come back for next week’s instalment.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Photos by Ariel Root<\/p>\n

Follow us on\u00a0twitter<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

That moment when you\u2019re standing at the Dryden airport, surrounded by a sea of tan MNRF\u00a0travel shirts, brass nametags, and green Nomex pants. That moment when another white crew cab rolls up, and four crew people jump out, unloading their red and blue bags. Four new faces. Four new stories. 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