My second job in Lethbridge was cleaning carpets. My boss was racist.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
One time, we went to a nearby reserve, but the person who booked us wasn\u2019t home. My boss then implemented a surcharge for every reserve job we had. Plus he required the client to meet us in Lethbridge and we\u2019d follow them to their house.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s why that\u2019s racist.<\/p>\n
Before I get to that though, I remember one time a client on one of the reserves mentioned that he worked at the school on the reserve. My boss asked him if he was the janitor. He was a teacher. It\u2019s a reserve school. Most of the people who worked there were indigenous.<\/p>\n
Anyhow, back to the surcharge.<\/p>\n
We had plenty of white people who were no shows. But we never once had a white person surcharge. We never required white people to meet us then lead us to their house. And it didn\u2019t matter how many times white people screwed us over.<\/p>\n
My boss\u2019s tendency to treat indigenous people all the same because of an individual\u2019s actions wasn\u2019t the only time I\u2019ve seen this.<\/p>\n
If an indigenous person steals from a store, mall security and store employees follow all indigenous people. No matter how many white people steal, white people aren\u2019t followed because they\u2019re white.<\/p>\n
If an indigenous person panhandles, pedestrians assume panhandling is an indigenous activity. No matter how many white people panhandle, no one ever sees panhandling as a white activity.<\/p>\n
If an indigenous person is publicly intoxicated, people assume public intoxication is an indigenous activity. No matter how many white people are publicly intoxicated, no one ever sees public intoxication as a white activity.<\/p>\n
If an indigenous person is a bad rental tenant, landlords assume all indigenous people are bad tenants. No matter how many white people are bad tenants, landlords never create policies to avoid renting to white people.<\/p>\n
If an indigenous person\u2019s name show up in a police crime news release, people assume crime is an indigenous activity. No matter how many white names show up in police crime news releases, no one will see crime as a white activity.<\/p>\n
Anytime we tie the colour of a person\u2019s skin to their undesirable behaviour, we\u2019re being racist, especially if we don\u2019t do the same thing to white people.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s normal for store owners to worry about shoptlifting. It\u2019s normal for pedestrians to be uncomfortable with panhandling. It\u2019s normal for people to be uncomfortable around drunk people. It\u2019s normal for landlords to worry about their property.<\/p>\n
All of that is normal. But you need to be worried about it across the board, not just when black people, indigenous people, and other people of colour are in the room.<\/p>\n
This is how white people perpetuate racism.<\/p>\n