Racism in all its ugliness on the rise

Page 4

Is racism on the rise in this country?

I believe the answer is yes. Just ask retired broadcaster Keigh Rutherford who was beaten and partially blinded in one eye when two neo-Nazi skinheads attacked him outside his home near Edmonton because of a broadcast he id in 1960 on alleged Nazi war criminals.

It's been 30 years since his broadcast and he's attacked by young men barely in their twenties!

It proves racism never sleeps.

What I have taught my children over the years is that you must respect people, love people, find it I your heart to forgive people who have done wrong to you, and above all never, never look down on someone because of the color of their skin.

And now I sit at my desk with a piece of paper that has racism written all over it.

Recently at the Lethbridge Community College a piece of hate literature was found posted on a wall. It was aimed at Indians.

It read in part "the following animals will not be hunted in the boundaries of Alberta: Bear, Dee, Moose and Elk, however there will be an open season on the North American Aboriginal (locally known as Indians, Bucks, Squaws, Apaches, etc.).

These wagon burners must be thinned out every two to three years."

After reading it I was angry. I visualized a very sick person sitting in a darkened room, writing this hate literature with a picture of Hitler hanging on the wall.

I even wondered who it might be. Possibly a person who was beaten up by an Indian man or woman?

Or maybe this person's family brought him up to hate ethnic people? Those thoughts did cross my mind.

However, one thing I do know is whoever wrote that piece of garbage is a loser, a very sick human being (but possibly does not know it) and most of all - a coward.

And if it was a collaboration of many, the above still stands.

This year has truly been a summer of discontent for Indian people and literally the nation.

We have gone through the Mohawk crisis, Native blockades across the country, the Peigan Lonefighters' confrontation with RCMP and the Lubicon land claim problem.

We have witnessed on national television rocks being thrown in Montrel at cars filled with Native women, children and elders by non-Natives as police stood by and did nothing.

We have watched television as non-Natives screamed at the top of their lungs in delight as they hanged and put fire to an effigy of an Indian person.

I personally was confronted by two drunken non-Natives at Edmonton's Klondike Days. They swore at me, tussled with me and called me a "dirty Mohawk!"

The sad thing is my two children witnessed it and it took some talking on my part, reminding them about love for your neighbor and about forgiving, it ease it from their minds.

No, the message is clear - racism in all its ugliness is on the rise. It has shown its ugly head many times this past summer and I the disgusting piece of junk someone wrote at Lethbridge.

The hate propaganda continued that it's "unlawful to shoot in public taverns. (The bullet may ricochet off their greasy ski and hit a white man). Traps may not be baited with Big Macs, welfare cheques or Lysol containers."

Native people must not ignore those who would lash out at Indian people with their prejudices and racist attitudes, especially the cowardly ones too afraid to identify themselves.

As Saddle Lake elder Joe Cardinal once said. "Indian people must begin to take pride in who they are, the way it was before the white man came."

"We must teach our children to walk with their heads held high and to remember they are the first citizens of Canada and have a right to be treated equally in all aspects of life."

I like what Mr. Cardinal said, especially the part about holding our heads high. I practice it all the time and instill it in my children.

I wonder if the person or persons responsible for writing that nasty piece of pollution can say the same thing? I doubt it.

In fact if the police want to catch the culprit, maybe they should look for a person who slouces over while he or she walks - someone too ashamed to face life, let alone themselves.