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The Citizen, 1989-01-18, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 1989. Opinion Racism a personal issue Canadians, who always thought of race problems as something confined to newscasts from south of the border or South Africa have been made painfully aware in the past week that race relations are a problem here too. Ironically, as Americans celebrated Martin Luther King Day, we ’ ve been treated to the site of a black vs. white student riot in Nova Scotia and hardening attitudes between police and the black community in the Toronto area following the shooting of two black men and the charges of manslaughter laid against two police officers. There are new charges that Canada is a racist country both from black community leaders and from some white experts. A recent University of Toronto study showed that 30 per cent of Canadians interviewed agreed with such statements as that all the races aren’t equal and that if blacks want to get along better with whites they need to change their ways. It doesn’t take a study for any observant person to know there is plenty of racism in Canada. Even casual conversation with family members and respected friends can sometimes yield shocking statements of racial prejudice. But racism isn’t confined to whites and surveys among black, East Indian and Asian populations would probably show equally outrageous opinions about whites. With racism, unfamiliarity breeds contempt. Colour is something that sets one person off from another and makes generalizations easier. The natural suspicion of strange things and strange people can brew in the isolation of one racial group from another. If people meet as individuals they may become friends but if each is just part of a sea of white or black or yellow or brown faces, racial stereotypes are more likely to grow. If police seem to spend an inordinant amount of time dealing with minority groups they may come to see the racial group as the problem, not the individuals. If minority groups feel the police are injust they may see all policemen are prejudice, not just individuals. There must be more meeting between the individuals of all the races, not between the power groups. The sooner we don’t have a “white community” or a “black community” but simply a community, the better. Racial problems in Canada have been exacerbated in recent years because nearly all new immigration (much of that of non-white races) has settled in a few major population areas like Toronto. We are building two Canadas: a virtually all-white rural and small-town Canada and cosmopolitan cities of ethnic neighbourhoods. We might as well be building walls around the different racial groups, because we are leading to an inevitable misunderstanding, a perfect opportunity tor those who would like to create a them-against-us mentality. Calls for the government to create more laws to eradicate racism will do little good. The walls must be broken down by individuals from all races dealing with other individuals, not representatives of a racial community. It’s much more difficult than just passing a piece of legislation but it’s the only way that will work. Cracks showing? Whenever a government has a huge majority there must come a downfall and one must wonder if the cracks that will lead to destruction are showing in the provincial Liberal government. Speaking recently at a Huron County Council session Exeter Reeve Bill Mickle urged his colleagues to protest the change freeze on from unconditional funding and the move toward more conditional funding by the province. He was joined last week by municipal politicians in London and across the province. It’s the second time the provincial Liberals have irked municipalities. The earlier decision to dump the hot potato of Sunday store openings in the lap of municipal politicians already had municipal politicans steaming. Now it appears to many local politicians the province wants to impose its will on the local council’s through pulling on the purse strings like a puppeteer. Just as it isn’t healthy to have the provinces constantly pitted against the federal government, so it isn’t constructive to have the municipalities and the provincial government constantly at war. Also, from a strictly party point of view, many local politicians are Liberal party workers and having them opposed to their senior government may weaken election strategy at the local level. Put the estrangement of the municipal politicians from their provincial colleagues along with the constant fumbling of some star cabinet ministers such as Chaviva Hosek, Joan Smith and Eleanor Caplan and perhaps the first danger signs of the collapse of the huge Liberal majority are showing. Spring thaw Mabel’s Grill There are people who will tell you that the important decisions in town are made down at the town hall. People in the know, however know that the real debates, the real wisdom reside down at Mabel ’s Grill where the greatest minds in the town [if not in the country] gather for morning coffee break, otherwise known as the Round Table Debating and Filibustering So­ ciety. TUESDAY: Tim O’Grady was look­ ing at a Toronto paper this morning and said he thought it must be April 1 already when he read that it’s expected the official mascot of the new SkyDome stadium will be a turtle. What it means, said Julia Flint, looking at the front page, is that it’s slow news time and anything can make the front page of a news­ paper. Ward Black said he could see the aptness of the turtle with his hard round shell and it can slip back into its shell when it wants. Yes, said Tim, but with the building already more than two months behind schedule and still not done and the reports that the retractable roof takes so long to close that if it started raining, people would be soaked before the roof closed, don’t they think maybe they’re leaving themselves open for a few hilarious other compari­ sons with the turtle? WEDNESDAY: Ward was saying he thought Ontario Housing Mini­ ster Chaviva Hosek had been too long in the Toronto smog and needed to get out into the rest of theprovincesoshecould breathe some clean air and clear her mind. He was talking about Ms. Hosek’s claim that there are still “afford­ able” houses in the $150,000 to $200,000 range in the Toronto area even though the average price of a new house in the area is now $347,000. If that is “affordable”, Ward said, he’s glad he lives in the backwoods of Huron county be­ cause if he lived in Toronto all he could afford is a tent in a park. Good grief, Hank Stokes said, his farm is only worth about what these “affordable” houses are worth and he can’t afford that. Maybe, he said, the farm groups should be fighting for affordable farms as well. THURSDAY: Julia was enthusing this morning about the wonderful weather we’ve been having so far this winter. “Makes me glad I couldn’t take the time to go south,” she said. Hank, however, said he wasn’t sure he really was too happy to see the lack of snow. If we don’t have the snow to melt things might be mighty dry when planting time comes and if we get another dry year like last summer, it just might be the last straw for a lot of farmers. “It makes you worry about all this greenhouse effect,” Tim said, noting this is the third winter in a row we haven’t had much snow. “Now isn’t that just like Cana­ dians,” Ward said. “If we have too much snow we complain about what a tough country it is to live in and if we don’t have snow we worry because we don’t have it.” A motorist who scrapes only a little peephole in his or her ice-covered windshield is asking for trouble. Clear your windshield completely of ice and snow and keep it that way. Also scrape outside mirrors clear. The Citizen P.O. Box 429, ELYTH, Ont. N0M 1H0 Phone 523-4792 P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, Ont. NOG 1H0 Phone 887-9114 The Citizen is published weekly in Brussels, Ontario, by North Huron Publishing Company Inc. Subscriptions are payable in advance at a rate of $17Q0/yr ($38.00 Foreign) Advertising is accepted on the condition that in the event of a typographical error, only that portion of the advertisement will be credited Advertising Deadlines: Monday, 2 p.m - Brussels; Monday, 4 p.m - Blyth We are not responsible for unsolicited newscriptsor photographs Contents of The Citizen are © Copyright Serving Brussels, Blyth, Auburn, Belgrave, Ethel, Londesborough, Walton and surrounding townships. Editor & Publisher, Keith Roulston Advertising Manager, Dave Williams Production Manager, Jill Roulston Second Class Mail Registration No. 6968