Today is the day of the presentations for the class project, and every student was given five minutes to sum up their research paper. The professor emeritus, Ms. Helena Lockers, sat at the front, watching as student after student discussed their papers. She was eager to hear the thoughts of these young men and women on the issues of race and gender in this day and age. When it came Sadia Bashir's turn to speak, the professor and the rest of the class got a lot more than they bargained for...
"I am a proud member of BLM and I want to fight White male patriarchy until the day I die," Sadia Bashir said proudly, and the six-foot-tall, dark-skinned, curvy and Afro-sporting young Black woman pumped her fist in the air. Everyone seated inside the Politics Of Gender And Race Class inside Carleton University's Southern Hall stared at her, and Sadia shrugged. This strong sister absolutely did not care what those crackers thought, that's for damn sure.
Sadia Bashir was used to dealing with a lot of fake people, which was part and parcel of immigrant life in the Capital of Canada. If you weren't of the Caucasian persuasion, then people liked to ask you where you came from, make fun of your accent, and generally speaking, treat you like a second class citizen. Canada enjoyed a reputation as a progressive and friendly nation, but this falsehood pissed off Sadia like nothing else could. And the fiery young Black woman wanted to set the record straight...
"Fight the power," came a feminine voice, and Sadia turned, and found herself looking at a short, slender, red-haired young White woman with green eyes. Sadia's brown eyes narrowed as she gazed at Muriel Rosenthal, the Orthodox Jewish gal with whom she had so many arguments during the feminist discussions at school. Muriel smiled at Sadia, who frowned, but said nothing. There was a mysterious smile on Muriel's face, as though she were enjoying a private joke...
Sadia returned to her seat, after concluding her speech about race relations and feminism in the City of Ottawa, Ontario. Canadians looked at what was happening in America, and thought themselves so progressive and liberal, when their bigotry was merely covert, rather than overt. The smugness of fake-smiling, passive aggressive Canadians irked the young Black woman even more than the overt racism of Americans. At least in America, you could tell your friends from your enemies...