The Plank in our own Eye

The news from Virginia this weekend filled me with a deep sense of grief. In the news coverage, one thing that stood out to me was the call for white pastors to condemn these racist actions and attitudes from their pulpits.

I'm not a pastor, but I do write a blog on Christianity and social justice, so I thought I should say something.

But it's hard to come up with words to say. 

As a white person, I can't claim to really understand what it feels like to be racially discriminated against, and especially not what it feels like to see someone who fought to own your people as slaves be celebrated in the form of a statue.

As a Canadian, I mostly only witness the special American brand of racism through the media, safely watching from a long distance. 

So I thought I'd turn to my own backyard. 

Canada takes pride in their status as a multicultural nation. We pat ourselves on the back and say, look, we have people all over the world here, living and working together, like a patchwork quilt. Then we go out for dinner and eat sushi or pho or tacos (authentic ones, of course) or injera or jerk chicken or dim sum or raclette or falafel or curry or ceviche or poké bowls. Then we read about what's happening in the States and say, I'm glad we're not like them. 

But doing the right thing is not a contest. We shouldn't win any prizes for being less racist. And even if there were such a contest, I don't think we would win. 

We had racially-based slavery for over a hundred years, as well as Japanese internment camps, a Chinese Head Tax, and the residential schools. French was outlawed in both Manitoba and Ontario. There was even an MP who was member of the Canadian KKK. We, too, turned away a boat full of Jewish refugees in the 1930s and the last segregated school didn't close until 1983, the last residential school not until 1997. 

And it's not all history, either. People of colour are overrepresented in poverty and in our prisons and indigenous girls and women are way too likely to end up dead or missing. We send money to developing nations to give them clean drinking water while children on Canadian reserves get rashes from their bathwater. Women in hijabs have been attacked on the street.

A few months ago, police responded to a bomb threat against the Jewish community centre at Bathurst and Spadina. A few of my friends responded with, That's not my Toronto. 

But whether we like it or not, these things happened. This is the reality of Canada. You can't solve racism by a veneer of so-called Canadian politeness. 

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness." (Matthew 23: 27-28)

We don't want to wait until violent riots break out here* to respond to racism in our own backyard, and in our own attitudes and actions. 

The fact is, it is human nature to respond more favourably to people who are similar to ourselves. And researchers like the creators of the Implicit Association Task have shown that people have subconscious biases on a range of issues, including race. (I dare you to take the test.)

Fighting a subconscious bias seems like an impossible task. So should we give up? No way! 

Fortunately, intentionally seeking out diversity can overcome bias. Don't believe me? Play with this online simulation of a community of 'shapist' individuals and see if you can eradicate segregation!

So what about you? How are you going to counteract racism in your own actions today?

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye." (Matthew 7:3-5) 

*Again. We've had three ethnic riots.