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People of Metro Vancouver! You're symptoms aren't going unnoticed! You choose sushi over the bologna sandwich! It's K-os over Michael Buble
…You may be suffering from White-Guilt syndrome, Canadian-style. Another potential symptom of White-Guilt is to say, "If I were American, I'd vote for Barack Obama!" You might also own a framed poster of Malcolm X or feel proud that you know the perennially popular Martin Luther King 'I Have A Dream' speech.
You may be thinking, "Look, I'm Canadian and we didn't have slavery. We have multiculturalism, diversity, the Canadian mosaic. I love K-os for his musical genius. Sushi is healthy! And, there are many good reasons to vote for Obama." If this is what you're thinking, you've got good points.What then, in 2008, does it mean to have White-Guilt, Canadian-style? And what is the relationship between white-Canadian-guilt and white-American-guilt? After all, Canadians don't have to deal with American issues such as four hundred years of chattle slavery. In fact, as Canadians, we pride ourselves on being career multi-culturalists.
Have we absorbed a portion of our White-Guilt from our southern neighbors? After all, we are absorbed by their politics. We care whom the Americans vote in as their next President. Not to mention that American politics is more exciting and more prevalent in Canadian television culture. From "the Daily Show" to "Saturday Night Live," more young Canadians are tuning into to American culture rather than our Canadian counterpart: "This Hour Has 22 Minutes."
If there is unadulterated Canadian White-Guilt, where does it come from? Could it be found in our governments' historical hiccups vis-à-vis the First Nations people? Unfortunately, many Canadians seem to feel like we've sufficiently resolved that situation. They gave us food; we gave them alcohol. Now, they get fishing, hunting, tax deals and large tracts of land. In exchange, we no longer give them small pox covered blankets.
There doesn't seem to be much concern amongst Canadians about the fact that we've never had a non-white Prime Minister. Kim Campbell, the first and only female Prime Minister, lasted fewer than six months in office. Yet we watch the American Presidential race hoping that either a Black man or a Woman will win. Why is it that many high school and university students couldn't tell you who the leader of the Canadian opposition party is, what "Tory" means or the date of Canadian confederation? Do they really care? When the time comes, I wonder if Vancouverites will get as excited about a First Nations candidate for Prime Minister as they are about the next American President.
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