The history of mistreatment of people of African decent in Canada is a shameful one. No balanced person could possibly disagree with that. In 1946, Viola Desmond was dragged out of a New Glasgow movie theatre for the crime of sitting in a chair which would have otherwise been occupied by a white person. For this, Ms. Desmond is called "Canada's Rosa Parks." While I can sympathize with that title I don't think it's appropriate for two reasons...
1) If I were an African Nova Scotian I would be offended by such a title because it subtly and perhaps unwittingly implies that the stand Desmond took is somehow a footnote to Parks. We should remember that Desmond took her stand years before the civil rights movement was ever heard of. Also this whole affair happened in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia in a place where the Black community was far less powerful that in Montgomery Alabama where Parks took her stand. Moreover New Glasgow did not seem to have a powerful leader like Rev. Martin Luther King to use the event as a catylist for change as did Montgomery. Despite this Ms. Desmond fought her case all the way to Nova Scotia Supreme Court with none of the hype and fanfare that accompanied the struggle of Ms. Parks. I find more inspiration in the story of Viola Desmond and I think that others would too if they knew about it.
2) I have to be cautious about how I write this. The struggle of Parks and Desmond are fundamentally different because of one detail: property. Public transit systems are exactly that: public. All members of the public should therefore be afforded with equal and open access to public transit. A movie theatre is usually private property. Does the public enjoy equal access to public property? No. Although it sounds strange to sympathize with the owners of such a racist establishment I think a better statement would be for the Black community to boycott the theatre totally as opposed to entering needless discussions about what a person can and cannot do with his/her own property. I could write endlessly about my beliefs about this but I've already stated how it relates to this issue
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2 comments:
Hi Tom, Great to hear your reflections! Do you think it's important to emphasize Canadian heros and activists more in the education system? What should government do to make sure that the stories of people like Viola Desmond are told?
I am conflicted about how to answer your question On one hand I don't think anyone should have to have a hero, let alone one given to them by the government. On the the other hand Desomnd is some worth knowing about.
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