Dear Editor,
Over a month ago, on July 30, my wife sent me a picture she had taken of a bus shelter at the intersection of Granville Avenue and Minoru Boulevard.
The advertisement for Nu Stream Realty Inc. shows three realtors who are identifiably Asian (likely they are ethnically Chinese, based on their surnames.)
Someone had used marker to alter their eyes and teeth to make the faces look more stereotypically Asian.
The following day, I phoned the Richmond RCMP, who reassured me that they would contact the sign company to notify them of the problem. Although a month has passed, the marker remains on the sign.
The RCMP and the bus signage company are not at fault here — at least they deserve the benefit of the doubt as it sometimes takes a while for these sorts of complaints to work their way through state and company bureaucracy.
Instead, I’d like to point the finger squarely at the hundreds of people who have used that bus stop over the past several weeks and done nothing about it. No one thought to use some rubbing alcohol or makeup remover? Where was the letter writing campaign to the local papers? Does the sign need to read “The Chinese Are Taking Over!” before someone does something about it?
The irony of this small, overlooked act of racism was brought home to me this past weekend, when my wife and I attended the Richmond World Festival at Minoru Park.
Billed as an event that “celebrates Richmond’s significant cultural diversity,” the festival featured a range of food trucks, music, performances, and booths from all sorts of community groups. It was a lovely way to cap off the summer. That bus stop was literally a stone’s throw from the festival.
I believe that “song and dance” multiculturalism — as fun, inclusive, and vital as it is — must go hand-in-hand with both tackling acts of everyday racism.
Lee Blanding
Richmond
