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I made a recent visit to Canada and it basically lived up to all my expectations. The environment is clean and quiet and it has a more laid back feel than America. The people are very social and friendly and you just don't sense the tension in the air that is characteristic of life in America.
I visited a cousin of mine in what would be considered a low income area of Toronto (which is still pretty decent by the way) and I saw something that had me rethinking everything I knew about race relations from a socioeconomic standpoint. We all the know the situation in America regarding the prevalence of "white-flight" from major urban centers to the suburbs, the corresponding decay and poverty that exist within inner cities neighborhoods occupied predominantly by minorities, and the generally segregated ethnic enclaves that exist within the big cities.
Anyways, what I saw in this Toronto neighborhood was a diversity and mixing among the different ethnic groups that you'll never see anywhere in America. This particular area is known to have a large black population and it is a magnate for immigrants from the Caribbean as well as other places (I spotted quite a few Muslim women driving around the neighborhood wearing the hijab... something that I almost never see in America). Even so there is a sizable white population interspersed throughout the area. In fact my cousin's neighbors are white and I was surprised to see their kids playing with my cousin's kids and the other black kids from the area. We were having pizza outdoors and my cousin's white neighbor came over and join us and ate and chat with us.
I found it intriguing but refreshing at the same time. I watched them carefully (without making it obvious) and I saw absolutely no tension or indication that they were uncomfortable in the other's presence or with the fact that their kids were playing together in the yard. In fact I notice this several times in Canada - how comfortably whites and blacks interacted with each other. I've never seen such relaxed attitudes between whites and blacks in America.
The idea of white-flight is virtually non-existent in Canada. You'll find whites in the inner city and low income areas as much as the suburbs and high income areas. Racism is probably present there but you'll have to search hard to find it or it's very subdued UNLIKE America where it's virtually in your face everywhere you go (browse the threads here on CD and you'll see what I'm talking about). Maybe America should take a page out of Canada's book. Like Healthcare and their stable banking system, they seem to get it right time and time again. Go Canada!
I made a recent visit to Canada and it basically lived up to all my expectations. The environment is clean and quiet and it has a more laid back feel than America. The people are very social and friendly and you just don't sense the tension in the air that is characteristic of life in America.
I visited a cousin of mine in what would be considered a low income area of Toronto (which is still pretty decent by the way) and I saw something that had me rethinking everything I knew about race relations from a socioeconomic standpoint. We all the know the situation in America regarding the prevalence of "white-flight" from major urban centers to the suburbs, the corresponding decay and poverty that exist within inner cities neighborhoods occupied predominantly by minorities, and the generally segregated ethnic enclaves that exist within the big cities.
Anyways, what I saw in this Toronto neighborhood was a diversity and mixing among the different ethnic groups that you'll never see anywhere in America. This particular area is known to have a large black population and it is a magnate for immigrants from the Caribbean as well as other places (I spotted quite a few Muslim women driving around the neighborhood wearing the hijab... something that I almost never see in America). Even so there is a sizable white population interspersed throughout the area. In fact my cousin's neighbors are white and I was surprised to see their kids playing with my cousin's kids and the other black kids from the area. We were having pizza outdoors and my cousin's white neighbor came over and join us and ate and chat with us.
I found it intriguing but refreshing at the same time. I watched them carefully (without making it obvious) and I saw absolutely no tension or indication that they were uncomfortable in the other's presence or with the fact that their kids were playing together in the yard. In fact I notice this several times in Canada - how comfortably whites and blacks interacted with each other. I've never seen such relaxed attitudes between whites and blacks in America.
The idea of white-flight is virtually non-existent in Canada. You'll find whites in the inner city and low income areas as much as the suburbs and high income areas. Racism is probably present there but you'll have to search hard to find it or it's very subdued UNLIKE America where it's virtually in your face everywhere you go (browse the threads here on CD and you'll see what I'm talking about). Maybe America should take a page out of Canada's book. Like Healthcare and their stable banking system, they seem to get it right time and time again. Go Canada!
So.........have the canadians made minorities specially protected social classes in exchange for voting for the "correct" political party in canada? What we haven't done in america is address racism, we've simply institutionalized it.
There are racial conflicts when it comes to indigenous Canadians (I believe they're called first nations). Other than that, most of the visible minorities originated fairly recently as immigrant communities, and Canada has no more issues with Chinese, Indians, Africans etc. than the U.S. has with such groups.
There is a very small community of black Canadians with American ancestry (Underground Railroad), and they're about as integrated as black Americans would be in a mostly white part of the north or west, which is to say, pretty well integrated.
The two countries are really apples and oranges when it comes to race. Hard to compare.
There are racial conflicts when it comes to indigenous Canadians (I believe they're called first nations). Other than that, most of the visible minorities originated fairly recently as immigrant communities, and Canada has no more issues with Chinese, Indians, Africans etc. than the U.S. has with such groups.
There is a very small community of black Canadians with American ancestry (Underground Railroad), and they're about as integrated as black Americans would be in a mostly white part of the north or west, which is to say, pretty well integrated.
The two countries are really apples and oranges when it comes to race. Hard to compare.
Canada and America are probably the two most similar countries in the world. I don't buy the "hard to compare" excuse.
That's the most likely reason. We have a legacy of slavery and Jim Crow and they don't. I lived across the bridge from Canada for many years and it's much different up there.
If America is so hung up on race, why are you contributing to this phenomenon?
I wouldn't have to ask this question if this message board wasn't flooded with race related threads every day and if race wasn't such an overbearing factor in American society. I am simply having an analytical discussion about a situation that exists in reality.
I wouldn't have to ask this question if this message board wasn't flooded with race related threads every day and if race wasn't such an overbearing factor in American society. I am simply having an analytical discussion about a situation that exists in reality.
I guess if you are a "New York Guy" the Civil War seems like a million years ago.
However, the United States is more than just New York. Where I'm from it seems like slavery wasn't all that long ago. We are so far from Canada culturally and socially that it makes no sense to even compare it. Up until World War II my part of the country was, per capital, like a third world economy.
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