Dear Editor:
I came out after having coffee at McDonald’s at the Russ Baker Way location with my colleagues this morning.
There were two elderly gentlemen sitting outside with a small Bichon. As the name suggested, she has a lovely coat of white fluffy fur and especially well trimmed on her head.
I am a dog lover and I commented that I love her hair. To my surprise, one of the gentlemen responded that I thought you would like to eat it.
I walked away. My colleague turned around and challenged him that his comment was inappropriate. We left and they did not say anything.
I have left out the ethnic or race origins of everyone involved in this encounter on purpose. This is to see how widespread the stereotype belief of whom would like to have our canine friends as a food source.
There are reports from time to time that certain cultures, including Chinese, consume canine as a food source.
Stereotyping works in identifying a conduct of one person or more and inferring it upon the whole group. In this case, since I am Chinese, the gentleman inferred that I would like to eat his dog. It does not matter whether it was an innocent or racist remark. In any way, this kind of remarks should not be acceptable in this society.
I did not engage any further in this encounter. However, in retrospect, I should have had said something. By not taking action, I feel that I am silently condoning such actions. It is as if I witnessed a crime and did not take actions to stop it. It is as if I witnessed bullying in a workplace or school and did not report or stop it.
This is why I am writing and sharing my story with my fellow citizens. This might be an innocent and insignificant event. There are probably only a very small number of people who would make such bigotry remarks or comments.
Nevertheless, I believe it is also my duty and obligation, as a member of this community, to take action and weed out offensive and bigotry remarks or behaviours.
Michael Fu
Richmond
