Unwanted at the "Country Club"

When I was in grade school, my teachers always taught me that Canada is a multicultural country. We're not a melting pot like the U.S. where ethnic groups are assimilated into the whole. So if we're such a multicultural country, then why is there still so much intolerance present in our society?

Today, while out shopping with my friends, we encountered a pair of caucasian girls who thought it would be a good idea to make negative and rude comments about our ethnicity behind our backs. Though I didn't manage to catch all of what they were saying, it ran along the lines of, "look at that group of asians, they're all shopping together." Now I don't know about you, but I find that pretty offensive.

Why does this type of thing persist to this very day? Why is it necessary to denigrate people of other ethnicities for no apparent reason? I honestly felt like a person of colour at an all-"white" Country Club, where exclusivity is based on skin colour. Is that not so sad? I simply don't get it.

While I'll admit that yes all of us who were there were asian, that by no means defines us as individuals. Does hanging out with people from similar cultures make me a bad person? Or rather a person of lower standing worthy of being kicked around like trash? I guess to some people it does.

What I don't understand is how in a city as diversified as Montreal, such ignorance exists. You would think that in dealing with so many different and interesting people each day, this kind of daily interaction would make one a better person. That we might learn something new from people of different backgrounds ought to be an experience desired by all. Experiences in our lives shape the way we think and act. If this is true, then shouldn't people who live here be more well-rounded and accepting of other cultures?

Yes, that may be a very generalized statement, but I can hope can't I? I believe in a world where people see each other as human beings of equality. This is especially significant right now because February is Black History Month. Ignorance needs to become a relic of the past, and we as human beings need to do our best to make that happen. We need to educate the people around us, sharing our experiences and beliefs with them. But this is nothing more than dissemination of a single point of view if we don't also stop to listen to others and to hear what they have to say. A reciprocal relationship of listening and sharing thoughts, experiences, beliefs and values between ourselves and those around us is the ideal to which we all should aim.

Have the courage to rid our society of the poison that is ignorance here and now, such that we may create a better world for future generations.