racism... in Calgary, Alberta. Canada.

ok.. I'm in Toronto, ON. Very multicultural. My highschool had students representing at least 35 different countries. I have grown to know and appreciate many cultural differences and think that my life would suffer without them.

Calgary, Alberta on the otherhand... still seems to have issues. My friend from Calgary sent me this youtube link this morning and it's quite sad. Damn sad, actually.

I just hope that the people who run these bars/clubs/establishments wake up sooner than later and understand that EVERYONE should be treated as equals.

www.youtube.com...

[edit on 13-9-2006 by fattyp]

toronto you say?? no racism?? try telling that to french speaking canadians, you accept other peoples cultures if they speak english.

Originally posted by doggmann
toronto you say?? no racism?? try telling that to french speaking canadians, you accept other peoples cultures if they speak english.

Yes, I said, 'Toronto'.

No Racism? I never said that, please read the paragraph one more time. As for me telling that to french speaking canadians... I was born in kweebek.. so a giant 'tabarnac' goes out in your direction

As for how you know who and what I accept... it's astounding. You must be a graduate of Kreskin Kollege.

This story ran some time ago here and last night they showed that it was a “popular” Youtube video. Right away I checked it out.
The comments on that page sadden me very much. Trolls on the net will say anything to get a rise out of people

I've seen racism first hand in Calgary and from all different races too. People yelling stuff from cars, property damage. I’m proud to live in such a diverse city, but am ashamed that some of us just can’t get along.

Calgary has its benefits and its problems, just as any other city.

Can you name one major city anywhere that does not have a racism problem? Any city with any sort of population, is going to have its bad apples. The trick is, do not paint the rest of the citizens with the same brush.

I lived in Red Deer, Alberta for two summers. (Less than 2 hours from Calgary) One day when I was coming home from work, I was driving up Gaetz Ave. in Red Deer. This is the main street, and it was at rush hour. Didn't I see two young men with a cardboard box over their heads with swastickas all over the sides of it. Then painted below them, No Fat Chickz Allowd!. My chin dropped and I couldn't believe it. Were these guys nuts?

Here is where the story pulls together. Five minutes after getting in the door, a friend calls and tells me about these kids in a box getting their ass kicked by some old man. He never seen the artwork on the side, he was just telling me he seen some guy beating the two teenagers and a big cardboard box ripped up all around them. It ended up that they were about 16-18 years olds, and the gentleman who stepped in was in his early 20's.

After that day I thought I had seen everything.

yeah, I'm silly for thinking we can eliminate racism... which is unfortunate. I wonder if Jerome Iginla ever hears slander from the stands!? You know... like those footballers that play in Spain/France.

I miss Calgary... haven't been there since I went skiing at the big 3 over 10 years ago!

Originally posted by fattyp
yeah, I'm silly for thinking we can eliminate racism...

Certainly not silly. Some may say naive, I would say optimistic. You can never go wrong with optimism.

Originally posted by fattyp
I wonder if Jerome Iginla ever hears slander from the stands!? You know... like those footballers that play in Spain/France.

I am an avid hockey fan, and I have lived in the Calgary area before and from my experience Iginla has been embraced. The people of Calgary love him, and he loves the city. I am sure there are some people out there who may disagree, but the majority is behind him.

Originally posted by fattyp
I miss Calgary... haven't been there since I went skiing at the big 3 over 10 years ago!

I lived in Calgary for the summers of '04 & '05. Absolutely loved it and can't wait to go back again. I can understand why you would miss it.

Originally posted by fattyp
yeah, I'm silly for thinking we can eliminate racism... which is unfortunate. I wonder if Jerome Iginla ever hears slander from the stands!? You know... like those footballers that play in Spain/France.

Just curious here.. why do you have a right to demand certain behaviour from others though? I think your motives are probably selfish like those that you attack. Maybe instead of issuing platitudes and ultimatiums you should consider the other guy's situation for once.

Originally posted by denythestatusquo

Just curious here.. why do you have a right to demand certain behaviour from others though? I think your motives are probably selfish like those that you attack. Maybe instead of issuing platitudes and ultimatiums you should consider the other guy's situation for once.

Demanding another person to refrain from expressing racial slurs is not very much to ask. I do not view this to be selfish.

What Ultimatiums? Other guys situation?

The guy spewing racism and hatred? We are supposed to look at it from his view? One is more than permitted to disagree with someone, but racially motivated is wrong no matter what the purpose.

If I have taken your post out of context, inform me and I apoligize.

For now though, I can not understand why you would expect us to go out of our way to understand a bigot.

Hello,

I'm new to this site and forum as I just googled my way here. Very interesting topic that's being discussed!

I must agree that racism is in all corners of the world and like chissler said, I view eliminating racism as a sign of optimism. We can always do better

I believe the worst thing that racism can lead to is ignorance. To deny that such things happen because it's never happened to you will lead to further prejudice and intolerance. As such, it's important to be informed as well.
If you feel strongly for this, I encourage you to leave a comment there or to provide suggestions on what we can do to help eliminate racism in our clubs. Further support would be sharing this site with friends and asking them to share their friends. If we can connect enough people, maybe we can raise our voices loud enough so that bar and club owners in Calgary will change their policies so that such news reports don't embarass our city.



[edit to remove advertisment link. AC]

[edit on 22-9-2006 by astrocreep]

Originally posted by tshwang
I must agree that racism is in all corners of the world and like chissler said, I view eliminating racism as a sign of optimism. We can always do better

Well said. As naively optimistic as some may believe it to be, I like to think it can be done.

To advertise for your website, it might be best to contact the Admin before doing so. I believe it is against the ATS Terms & Conditions. From your post above, I believe you have alot to contribute to our community. You don't want to find yourself in hot water over alittle slip up.

Thanks for the heads-up

I'll remove the link for now and wait for approval.

Edit: Dang, I guess I can't edit my posts after a certain period of time? I'll just PM the admins then

[edit on 22-9-2006 by tshwang]

Complain & Suggestion Box

Use this link and post an explanation. Just simply say you advertised for a personal website, and you were not aware of the rules against this. Your not able to Edit your post anymore and if it is a problem you would like a staff member to edit your post.

Noone will condemn you for a mistake, so you have nothing to worry about.

It may be a dead issue here, but incase a staff member was forced to act on it I thought it would be better to give you the heads up rather than be punished in the future.