Sometimes I look at pictures of my self from when I was younger, and it makes me go into deep thought. I had a great child hood. Great might even be an understatement. I grew up in a household with two of the best parents I could ask for. My sister was kind of annoying (still is), but hey, that’s how siblings are. Best of all, I wasn’t spoiled. Some may say, shouldn’t you want to be spoiled? Nope, not at all. If I was spoiled, I would have turned out like half the teenagers I see nowadays — lacking sympathy, open-mindedness, and a heart. Maybe I’m being to harsh on them, but I see teenagers do and say things which I wish they wouldn’t. So yes, I enjoyed the majority of my childhood. But one part wasn’t so great. The racism I faced as a child, and even a young teenager, was horrible.
My parents, although not having grown up in North America, had the mentality of a true North American. They passed on this mentality to me, and for that, I thank them. What mentality is that? The mentality of accepting others. In many countries, “different” races (different from the dominant race in the country) are not accepted, and I don’t like, as many others don’t either. North America is supposed to be a place where all races are accepted, and for the most part, this is what I experienced. Now, on the other hand, I did have many negative experiences.
I played competitive hockey for 10 or so years, when living in Canada. Comeptitive meaning I had hockey every day of the week, which was exhausting. The younger years were fine — 7, 8, 9, didn’t experience anything negative. But then hit age 10, and things turned sour. I started to experience racial taunts/slurs on the ice, and for a 10 year old, it was hard to handle. My parents were always there to tell me to ignore the taunts, and beat them on the scoreboard. I always did this, but in all honesty, putting such taunts out of your head is not that easy. I experienced it right until the age of 16. Coincidentally, I ended up quitting that year, in 2008. I wouldn’t say it was because of that. Not to be cocky, but I was a popular guy in school, and my friends were able to overpower the racial taunts I heard. By this, I mean that I was able to keep my head up, thanks to them. I don’t want to say that racism was the whole reason I quit the sport. I was somewhat sick of playing so much, but sure, the racism did play a factor. I’m not a quitter — I put up with it for 7 years. In those 7 years, I learned to deal with it more and more, but I also learned that some people out there are extremely closed minded. Sure, I could sink to their level, but I was grown up in a way that would not lead me to do that.
Like I said, these taunts would hurt really bad, but I had learned to deal with them. I would just put on my iPod, listen to some of my favorite music, and go into deep thought. This one question would always cross my mind; how can humans say such things to other humans? Aren’t we all one race — the human race? Well, I thought we were, but clearly some others had different thoughts.
Hockey was just one of the places I experienced racism from other kids. It seemed like these kids thought they were God once they put on their hockey helmet. Why do I say that? Well, I ran into these same kids in malls, movie theaters, and even other sporting events, when I was with my friends. What happened there? They wouldn’t say a word, and it even seemed like they were running away. Not a God anymore without that helmet, huh!? I never let that hockey helmet get to my head. I was the same person on the ice, as I was off the ice.
I’ve also experienced what I would call “hidden racism” in airports quite a few times. Although, two incidents stick out in my mind quite well.
The first incident — I was 15 at the time, and was visiting the US (from Canada). I’m not trying to pull the race card. I never do that, but what happened seemed a bit unfair, or in other words, racist. Of some 60 people going through the security, I was the only one pulled aside. I was questioned, then put in a machine to test me for chemicals. They said it was “random”. I thought it was racism. You decide.
The second incident — I was 14 at the time, and was going to Mexico with a friend of mine and his family. At security, they had what they called a “random” search. As you were going through, they would pull out individuals randomly. Of some hundred people, only me and one other male were pulled aside. It was weird, cause the other guy looked like me kind of. They said it would only take a few seconds, but a few seconds turned into 5 or 10 minutes. They literally emptied by bag, and even unrolled the toilet paper I had brought, to check in between. Once again, they said it was “random”. I thought it was racism. You decide.
The airport incidents are not as bad as the ones I experienced in hockey. I understand the people at the airport are kind of just doing their job. Plus, they never made any direct racist slurs.
I could go on with my experiences forever, but I’ll cut it here. I feel that racism is often not discussed, and even hidden aside in a sense. I think this is not the approach we need to take. We need to educate the younger generations on racism, so that they do not grow up to be like the people who continuously taunted me. Gladly, North America continues to become more and more diverse. I have friends from many different nationalities — Lebanese, Somalian, Russian, Bosnian, Scottish, and the list goes on. As silly as this may sound, I wish these racists would do one thing. Put themselves in the shoes of the person they are making slurs to. How would they feel? Probably not so good.
Anyways, I just felt like I needed to get this out. If you’ve ever been a victim of racism, don’t be afraid to share your story in the comments. I know sometimes you want to just keep it to yourself, but it does not help. I’m speaking from personal experience. Let it out, in hopes that we can show racists what they do is wrong.
The problem today is that many kids are a product of their parents so if their parents are racist their will more than likely turn out to be racists as well.
I suffered many racial taunts as I grew up but it only made me stronger.
As to the hockey game, do you think that those kids were only taunting you so as to put you off your game?
Yeah, I was told that many times. All of my friends had very open minded, accepting parents, thus they turned out that way.
When a child sees their parents saying racial slurs, they think it’s right, and pick it up.
As for hockey, it crossed my mind that they were doing it to throw me off my game, but I think they went way to far. There are other ways they could have thrown me off my game.
Perhaps they didn’t because kids wouldn’t have developed that incite unless their parents put the idea in their head.
I know that adults have used it in our AFL games until they made such actions an offence that would cause the players to be suspended.
Say Gooroo, have you ever thought of installing a ‘subscribe to comments’ plugin? It would make it a lot easier to keep track of where I’m leaving my comments.
Yeah, I know what you mean. Good to see those individuals were suspended.
I actually did not mention that one of the players who made these comments repeatedly ended up having to face the board. They gave him a very strict warning, and a few game suspension. He never said a word again.
I thought I had a “Subscribe To Comments” all along! Looks like it didn’t transfer over properly when I changed domains. I’ve fixed it now,. Let me know if it works
Seems to be working now, at least it’s there. I will let you know for sure as soon as someone leaves a comment.
Thanks Sire!
Yep, she works fine Gooroo, I reckon your comments will definitely go up now.
It’s definitely terrible to see how other people can behave, not only when it comes to racism and bullying, but also crime, rape and all the other bad things. I’m no expert so I don’t really have any qualified suggestions on how to fix it all, if it’s even possible.
All I can say is – focus on the positives and allow your friends to keep your head up, like you did.
We can only hope that someday, those bullies/racists will learn their mistakes. Unfortunately it’s impossible to go around fixing *everybody* – cause there’s always gonna be a new bad guy around the next corner
On the plus side – make your friends take a bet next time, that you will be pulled away for “random” check, might as well earn some pocket money
(Just trying to look at the bright side)
Yeah, I should have mentioned crime and such as well, because a lot of the time, crime and racism go hand in hand. I have never been a victim of a hate crime. I only experienced the racial taunts. Where I lived, the majority of people were immigrants, and if not, they were still accepting of other races. There were only some biggots, like the ones I ran across in hockey.
I wish we could fix everyone. The world would be a much better place, but sadly, it’s not realistic. We can only hope that more and more people change their ways, and open up their minds and hearts.
Hahahaha! Good way to look at things! I never mind jokes about it. Always a good way to brighten up the situation.
Good post! Although a topic many would be afraid to speak of, it reminds me of the saying”When the child curses, slap the parents!” They are unfortunately a product of their home environment. In my youth, I was surrounded by many different ethnic groups, all of which I embraced. I like to think I was “color blind” and treated everyone as an equal (all welcome at my house).
We all have choices in life, and I know that some of my friends would pick on others which was a big turn off to me. I chose to surround myself with positive people, and less likely to associate with the bully-type of individual.
One thing to come of your experiences: you decided you didn’t like it and chose to live your life with higher morals (and better choice of friends). Let’s hope your children learn from your example, and choose a good group of friends as well. Let karma take care of the bullies.
Mark,
Thanks for coming by first of all
A topic like this is definitely hard to topic about, and I know many others wouldn’t. I put up with it for so many years though, that simply talking about it doesn’t seem like a big deal really.
I wish more children would grow up in households similar to the ones you grew up in, and I grew up in.
I also do not like it when I see an individual or a group picking on others. Hate it actually. I didn’t see much of this though, because like I said, these kids would only become “tough” on the ice, behind their heavy hockey equipment. Off the ice, my neighborhood was quite diverse, and there was no real racial tensions.
I learned a lot from the experience, and will make sure my children have the same mindset that I do, and you do, and others like us do.
Growing up in the U.S.A. being black. It’s pretty normal to run across someone that is racist against blacks. I been dealing with it for 23 years now, so I am pretty use to it. Since I am a very claim person, none of it gets to me.
Yeah, I understand what you mean Deneil. Those people need to look around them, and see how many different races there are in the USA. They should also realize that our President is black!
racism…oh no. not anymore
Obviously I know about racism myself, and it’s followed me into adulthood, though not so much at this point in my life. But I do remember getting a new job back in the late 80′s, then, on a trip up to northern New York, having the VP tell me he almost didn’t hire me because I was black, and he wasn’t sure how some of the companies customers would react to me. It’s weird when you have to think about the race of someone before hiring them, right?
Strangely enough, I didn’t get it as often as a teenager, probably because I was living on a military base. But trust me, these things will make you a stronger person to deal with as you proceed through life.
It really is weird (and horrible) how an employer would think about that before hiring someone. Even though it is not as common today, I am sure it still happens.
I agree — and it has made me stronger. Sure, it is not a pleasant experience, and never will be, but it made me a stronger person. Racism will always exist, and our best bet is to look at it and use it to grow stronger. I’m sorry to hear you’ve also experienced racism. Although, I am sure it has made you a stronger person, like you said.