Sometimes I'm embarrassed and ashamed to live where I do.
Why?
Well, there is a lot of bigotry and rudeness in our province towards the native indian population here, aprticularly in the northern part of the province. There are a lot of reserves in and around where I live, and many from the older generations still have prejudice when it comes to the natives here. It's never been an issue for me and I hate to see it in other people - Canadians are so quick to say how bad America is with slavery, but we were no different in WW2 with the Chinese immigrants forced to build the CP railway for slave wages in horrible conditions, and now the native populations are being shuffled into reserves where they can be ignored in poverty and distress. A lot is said about how they pay little taxes and get free education, and in some of the tougher more poverty ridden areas of the city and province, there is a problem with gangs and crime, but there is a great deal socially, financially and culturally for them to overcome, and I can't see it being easy. And not everyone is that way in any community.
This is on my mind because of something that happened last night.
J and I went to the movie theatre downtown to try and pick up a ticket for a friend of ours to see a movie with us tonight. As we left the theatre there was a normally dressed native man about our age stopping people and talking to them - he did not look like a panhandler or a beggar...just a regular guy. Most of the people he stopped were walking away from him and ignoring him. When he came up to us, he explained his situation: He and his family (wife and 3 kids) were coming into the city from a small community about 3 hours north of the city for an appointment at the university hospital and had run out of gas about 3 Km out of the city. He had left his wife and kids in the car and started to walk to town and someone had given him a lift into town and tried to help him find a place to get gas. He only had enough for the gas to get here and back home plus a few dollars, but no one would lend him a gas can without $20 collateral, even when he offered to leave his wallet and ID and other personal items. Some swore at him, called him a indian and one even said "tough sh*t for you indian". All he was trying to find out was if there were other gas stations nearby he could walk to in the hopes of finding one that would give him a gascan to use. He had found someone willing to drive him back to his car...just didn't know where to go to get a gascan. We tried to recommend to him where to go and then realised an easy solution - he was only 7$ short of the gascan deposit...so we just gave him the $7. He was incredibly grateful, told us his name and thanked us profusely. He said he was so happy to find people who'd treat him decently and he didn't expect it.
Now I could be cynical than think maybe he made up the story for money...but really who cares? What is $7 to me, when to this guy, it was the difference between going g and getting his family safely and taking them to their appointment and then back home and leaving his family out on the highway continuing to get verbally abused while trying to get help.
The thing that bothers me is if he had been Caucasian, especially a white woman, I seriously doubt any of this would have happened to him.
It's times like that when I see bigotry rear it's ugly head that I get angry at society. Why do we assume the worst of people? Why do we treat them badly because of how they look, and how some people from their community may act?
Come on people...We're *better* than that.
7 comments:
Of course, the trouble is that there is an entire culture of scam artists that do similar things;
http://www.snopes.com/crime/fraud/distress.asp
http://gonerick.scrawlville.com/2006/03/gas_scam.html
http://wikitravel.org/en/Common_scams#Out_of_Gas
These sort of requests always put me on edge, because my response should not be predicated on who they are (scammer or no), but on who I am. And I think you're right that even if they are scamming, it doesn't excuse a rude response.
When in Vancouver, I wanted to start a token program, where people could donate to a local food bank/charity/something like that. Then, when people approached, you could hand them a token that had no cash value, but would tell them where they could go to find food and shelter.
The trouble, of course, is that it couldn't be a one-to-one ratio, and the tokens would have to have no intrinsic value. Basically, they would say "I gave at the office, here's where you can go for help."
But that's awful cynical, and implementing it would probably be a nightmare. And it might lead to people getting beat up because the guy was really wanting the cash....
Exactly, as per trent.
I have had many many con artists (all white, and none Indian) who pulled that kind of thing. Often they'll try to hold up your time for an incredibly long time. This was in Montreal.
But 7$? This guy you mention was probably the genuine article and not a scam artist. Now if it was 20 dollars, I'd be suspicious...
But there's no excuse for the people who were saying things in regard to him being "Indian,".
Well, if they were really young and dumb, they can be excused for being really young and dumb. I said pretty inexcusable things (not those things mmind you, but...) when I was young and certainly stupid, idiotic, and to immature and little mannered to know better. But yeah, anti-aboriginal racism is really sickening. In my high school, when I was 16 or so, I was shocked by what some of my lunch-buddies said.
You can't be scammed by someone who is down-and-out asking for a buck or two. The story might or might not be fake, but they are definately not going home to their 5 bedroom palace. That would be a scam. You either help or don't. Name calling not needed. Sadly it is easier to pick on the helpless than stand up to the powerful who steal from this country with dodgy tax deductions and corporate bail outs. A rich person is liked no matter what their colour. A poor person is disliked even more because of their colour. Racism is about power, to belittle someone and marginalize them you take away their power and give yourself a false sense of empowerment. Add that to the internal fear people have of the poor (treated as if it is contagious) and the helpless are left without help. Except for J and H. They're great!
Even if it was a scam or scam artist... If you walked away from the encounter feeling like you really did something nice, like you really made a difference to someone and directly caused a stranger's rotten day to turn into something better...
If you went home smiling because you genuinely feel better about yourself and your place in the universe; then what is a mere $7 ?
I would pay a few dollers every so often to feel that way.
Scam or reality, it's how you feel after the process.
Trust your feelings, they are the only truth you need to concern yourself with.
I would have bought him the gas can, filled it with gas for him, and sent him on his way.
I have made this same offer several times to people who walk up to me and offer similar stories of woe. And they always shook their heads and said "No, don't trouble yourself with buying me the (fill-in-the-blank needed item) just give me the money and I'll take care of it." And I always reply "No, I can't do that." And then they just walk away (usually mad as all get-out at me).
Some are mentioning the dollar value as an indicator of it being genuine. I disagree.
A guy at the 30th Street Station in Philadelphia has an on-going scam of telling people his wallet got stolen and he has no train fare back to New Jersey. Ao can you please give him the final two dollars he needs to makeup the rest of the fare?
Again, I offered to buy the NJT ticket for him. He got mad an walked away.
I could go on and on. In fact ... I will.
I went to a Wal-Mart on a sunny afternoon about five years back. And after parked and started heading across that HUGE parking lot toward the store, a young woman, dressed nicely, pushing a baby carriage with two little ones in it, stopped me and gave meher sob story.
She said one of her kiddies has a terrible food alergy soshe can only feed the child a special infant formula called Pedia-Lite (sp?) which she said costs $50 a can. So could I possibly give her whatever I could give her to help toward buying it? I asked why Human Services wasn't helping her. She said she was caught-up in beaurocratic red tape this month and they were unable to help her until it was straightened out. I said I'd be happy to walk with her into the Wal-Mart and BUY the can of Pedia-Lite for her right then and there. She started sputtering and said "No! You don't gotta do that! Just give me the money!"
Again, I said no and walked away.
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