Another fine day in the City of Ottawa, Ontario. I got my tired Haitian ass off the bus and walked to the university campus. While in the student center I got myself some coffee and sandwiches, and stopped to chit chat with the light-skinned tomboy working behind the Tim Horton’s counter. I walked to the library and took the elevator to the third floor, and guess what I saw when I came out of it.
A pair of hijab-wearing, somewhat matronly Somali ladies…with big round butts. Hello sister Jabirah, I said to the six-foot-tall, pretty-face plump woman. Hi Stefan, Jabirah Muhammad said with a smile, her round face brightening up. I held the door for her as she worked the cart she was pushing into the elevator. Thank you very much Stefan, Jabirah said. I nodded at her respectfully. Have a blessed day my sister, I said as the elevator doors closed and she went down.
I went to my favorite spot in the back of the library and logged on the computer. I thought about the day’s events. I went to my church, and ran into a racist jerk. Now, my church is very multicultural, I just want to put that out there. The preacher, a good friend of mine, is a black man. He’s married to an Asian lady. There are lots of people from places like the Caribbean, Latin America, Africa and southeast Asia in the congregation. Yet this middle-aged white dude shot me a negative look when I went into the church’s study area to speak to my Jamaican buddy Craig.
The bearded middle-aged white guy stood at the entrance like he was guarding it. My pal Craig’s wife, a tall sister in a summer dress, asked the white dude if he was the study area’s bouncer. When he heard what she said, he relented somewhat in his attitude toward me. I walked past him and shook my buddy Craig’s hand. We chatted for a couple of minutes then I went on my way. I thought about the dude’s behavior as I caught the bus to campus. There are a lot of racists in Ottawa, but the most dangerous ones are the smiling ones who act fake-nice around us so-called minorities but deep down inside, they hate us.
Ontario, Canada’s Capital region, is a complex place. I’ve known that ever since I moved here from my hometown of Boston, Massachusetts. I attend a university in the Ottawa area, and for the most part, I am guarded in my interactions with the locals. I’ve met plenty of nice people of all shades, but I’ve also met my share of bigots and creeps. Caution guides my interactions with the Canadians. This isn’t progressive New England, where Deval Patrick got elected Governor and no one batted an eyelash.
The incident at my church surprised me because I considered the people within the congregation my sisters and brothers in Jesus Christ. Never occurred to me that there might be wolves amongst the sheep. Sometimes the most bigoted person you know isn’t the fool telling crude jokes in all-white company but the fake-smiling creep at a gathering full of ethnic people. Lesson learned. Got to keep my eyes on that creep from now on. In Boston, you know your friends and you know your enemies. The bigots walk up to you talking trash, and your pals back you up. That’s how we do it. It’s simpler that way. The subtlety and backstabbing ways of Canadians irk me. Give me an honest creep any day.
It’s not just white Canadians who have issues with the growing number of immigrants from non-European backgrounds multiplying across the country. Quite often different minority groups have issues with each other. A lot of the local Haitians had a problem with Somalis, for example. Not me. Coming into Canada from Massachusetts, I didn’t see the Somalis as outsiders. I saw them as my sisters and brothers from Africa. I befriended quite a few, and learned about their faith and culture. I was brought up Christian, you understand, so there were some tense moments between my new Muslim friends and myself but for the most part, my interactions with Somalis, Arabs and Lebanese have been overwhelmingly positive.
I’ve met the big, scary Muslims you hear about on the web and on television and they’re among the nicest people you’ll ever meet. I befriended Ali, a young Somali guy in the criminology program at my new university. Through him I met a few others, like a young Djibouti gal named Amina and a young Saudi guy named Ibrahim. See? I make friends wherever I go. I’m twenty eight years old and although I’m in graduate school, I still think I’ve got a lot to learn.
I went to Web CT and worked on my assignment, and after two hours of ceaselessly typing, I was bored as can be. I went downstairs to clear my head. While sitting in a corner of the building I saw a very familiar silhouette moving about and talking animatedly in a language I did not know. Isn’t that…oh yes it is Jabirah, the kindly Somali lady I sometimes talk to. She stopped talking on the phone and leaned against the building wall, sniffing loudly. I’d seen enough. I walked up to her and asked her if she was alright.