Living in Canada – Episode 2
The Untold Truth about Racism in Canada
She is darker than my maid!
Now, I will tell you what happened to me once at the Vancouver airport, in the Canadian province of British Columbia a few years ago. Everything went without major setbacks when boarding a flight on a Mexican airline from Vancouver to Mexico City. The line was long, but the passengers were waiting patiently, when suddenly, from the front of the line, they heard very clearly: “Why doesn’t she speak Spanish? Did she already forget it? “She’s more dark-skinner than my maid,” an enraged woman shouted, addressing the airline supervisor.
I open parentheses, the passenger of Latin appearance, a woman whose age was between 40 and 50 years old, with a lot of makeup on her face, painted nails and with several golden rings on her fingers and golden bracelets on her wrists, was easily identified by her Spanish accent – without a doubt she was from some city in Mexico, most likely from Mexico City, Guadalajara or Monterrey. I close parentheses.
The airline employee tried to give the woman instructions in English, but she not only remained angry, but also raised the tone of her insults and her voice. I don’t know if it was because she didn’t understand English or because she lacked some documents, or because she wanted to be given special treatment or whatever. Those of us who listened were left speechless and a silence passed through a good part of the line of passengers. Fortunately, the airline supervisor acted immediately and approached the woman and told her in Spanish to calm down because such insults are not tolerated in Canada and that if she didn’t, he would call the police. The woman couldn’t believe it. She couldn’t believe that the supervisor defended the airline employee, and she even threatened to report him to the airline manager. As for her part, the employee looked confused, and even though her native language was not Spanish, she perfectly perceived the insulting attitude of the passenger. So, with the intention of resolving the situation, the supervisor spoke (in English) with the employee and, apparently, they decided not to report her to the airport authorities.
Now, why do I emphasize that the supervisor spoke in English with the employee? Because she was born in Canada to Filipino parents and her main language is English. Finally, the lady, much to her regret, had no choice but to suck it up as we say in Mexico or give in. Obviously, without understanding the situation, she showed, on the one hand, a tremendous ignorance of what Canada is and, on the other, a racism and classism rooted in the depths of his being. Honestly, I would have liked very much if the police had taken her away to see how she was going to defend herself without being fluent in English, much less without having arguments to defend her classist and racist insults.
Even more, I would have liked to see how she would behave if the police officers had been blonde, dark-skinned, Filipino. Surely she would have been embarrassed if the police officers were blonde, but she would have maintained her arrogant attitude if they had been dark-skinned. These types of people bow down to people they believe are superior and try to bend those they consider inferior.
I want to conclude by saying the following, countries are not racists, Canada is not racist, Mexico neither, but individuals are, and they carry these beliefs everywhere and show them in every step they take, making life more difficult for everyone.
Watch video at https://youtu.be/a5Dmcvt8_j0?si=DG5RfJ3vIYWuGhYe
