We’ve had plenty of Facebook chatter on the story we ran in Wednesday’s paper about racist rants in parking lots.
The story featured two individuals (one of Filipino the other Chinese descent), who claimed they were victims of racist tirades. Parking in a crowded shopping centre rarely brings out the best in any of us, but these situations escalated into freak outs.
I should note that, in both cases, the story was only told from one side. In one of the incidents, the presumed “offender” phoned the News after he read the story to say that plenty of racial slurs were thrown both ways, and he wasn’t the one who started it.
Regardless, the point of the story was not to arbitrate on the specifics, but to ask more generally if this kind of overt racial targeting is on the rise. On our Facebook page, many said yes, but it goes both ways. We had posts about Caucasians not being served at a Chinese restaurant or not feeling welcome at a Chinese mall. However, another noted: “White people complaining about racial discrimination = men complaining about rape.” (I assume meaning the numbers are heavily weighted to one side.)
But the post that stuck out for me was by Richard Vetter who wrote: “The person potentially responsible for racism stares back at me in the mirror every morning. I then try to greet each person I meet with the goal of seeking common ground and keeping that dark side of me in check.”
Also in Wednesday’s paper, we had a follow-up to an earlier story about a woman and her 51-year-old son who lost their HandyDART ride because her son had the wrong kind of wheelchair for the bus.
Following that story, I received a phone call from a woman who wanted to donate $100 to help the family buy a new wheelchair. “We’ve gotta do something,” she told me. “And I’m sure there are others who want to help.”
And she was right.
Shortly after, another woman called, offering the family a free electric scooter.
Point being, we have it in us to do the right thing, to show compassion, to care for a stranger. The difference is whether we choose to see that stranger as “us” or “them.”
It’s never okay to freak out on someone in a parking lot, but the bigger challenge for many of us is to look in the mirror until, as Vetter says, we find that common ground.
Racism is nothing new, but it does ebb and flow. We have a role to play in that.
Last summer, we ran a letter following a story about a racist flyer circulating through Steveston. The letter writer challenged every one of us to pause, look and smile at a stranger — just take that minute to acknowledge their humanity. Let’s take up that challenge, and let’s never underestimate the big impact of small gestures.
