Us And Them, Ours And Yours, It's All Wrong
I attended a fund-raising event last night night for VAST, the Vancouver Association for Survivors of Torture. It was called "Salsa for Social Change" and was a great evening of dance, good food and great people.
The day before the event, I mentioned at work that I would be acting as MC. A coworker said something along the lines of "It's great what you do for them". "Them" being the clients of VAST, refugees fleeing torture and trying to make a new life in Canada.
Her comment pissed me off (In the interest of full disclosure, most of what comes out of her mouth pisses me off, she's an idiot). In my heart and mind, there is no "them". There are people who, through pure accident of birth, were lucky enough to be born and raised in the safety and relative luxury of Canada, and there are people who were unlucky enough to be born in unsafe, poor, dangerous countries. It's not fair, not fair at all. None of us did anything to deserve the family or country that welcomed us, or refused us, whichever the situation. Pure dumb luck, that's all.
Last night a good, decent, kind man spoke of his experiences, including being adopted and raised in Turkey, starting his professional career, being imprisoned and tortured by his government, then escaping and making his way to Canada as a refugee.
His life has been horrific, and most would say "Well duh, the man was tortured." That's true, but his physical torture is only one part of the cruelty he has endured.
Because my friend was a refugee, he could not work. He could not open a bank account, he could not buy property, apply for credit or get the help he needed to recover from his torture. His treatment by the government was abysmal, just another refugee...until VAST.
Canada is a young country, most of her citizens, unless from a First Nation, are only two or three generations away from being refugees. Still "we" give newcomers a rough ride, treating many of "them" like "they" don't belong here. Why the hell not? Has nothing been learned from the treatment the first immigrants to Canada faced?
Intolerance is an ugly thing. Treating anyone else as "other", whether that person is a refugee, an immigrant, a person with a disability, a non-WASP type, or a member of any ethnic, cultural or sexual minority is wrong.
We all need to think about the words we use so that we can start changing the thoughts we have and the actions we take.
The day before the event, I mentioned at work that I would be acting as MC. A coworker said something along the lines of "It's great what you do for them". "Them" being the clients of VAST, refugees fleeing torture and trying to make a new life in Canada.
Her comment pissed me off (In the interest of full disclosure, most of what comes out of her mouth pisses me off, she's an idiot). In my heart and mind, there is no "them". There are people who, through pure accident of birth, were lucky enough to be born and raised in the safety and relative luxury of Canada, and there are people who were unlucky enough to be born in unsafe, poor, dangerous countries. It's not fair, not fair at all. None of us did anything to deserve the family or country that welcomed us, or refused us, whichever the situation. Pure dumb luck, that's all.
Last night a good, decent, kind man spoke of his experiences, including being adopted and raised in Turkey, starting his professional career, being imprisoned and tortured by his government, then escaping and making his way to Canada as a refugee.
His life has been horrific, and most would say "Well duh, the man was tortured." That's true, but his physical torture is only one part of the cruelty he has endured.
Because my friend was a refugee, he could not work. He could not open a bank account, he could not buy property, apply for credit or get the help he needed to recover from his torture. His treatment by the government was abysmal, just another refugee...until VAST.
Canada is a young country, most of her citizens, unless from a First Nation, are only two or three generations away from being refugees. Still "we" give newcomers a rough ride, treating many of "them" like "they" don't belong here. Why the hell not? Has nothing been learned from the treatment the first immigrants to Canada faced?
Intolerance is an ugly thing. Treating anyone else as "other", whether that person is a refugee, an immigrant, a person with a disability, a non-WASP type, or a member of any ethnic, cultural or sexual minority is wrong.
We all need to think about the words we use so that we can start changing the thoughts we have and the actions we take.
posted by Alphamutt at 7:15 PM
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