My brothers and I were raised in a small town of 5000 and were the only South Asian, let alone Sikh family that lived in that town. My parents recognized this quickly and realized they needed to reach out and educate townspeople about the Sikh faith. They spoke to community organizations, business groups, church groups, teachers, principals and students. They always said that education was the key work to ending racism and teaching people about diversity.
I admit freely that we were subjected to racism, discrimination and microaggressions. Our neighbour across the street liked to come and yell at my brothers and I on a daily basis spouting racist taunts. We told our parents who said while they believed us they couldn’t do anything because they didn’t witness it. One day my mom was home while her car was getting fixed. Our neighbour assumed that our parents were not home and came over for our daily yelling. My mom heard and gave him the what for. After, our friends, and I must stress our friends not us, put various items found in the group in his mailbox. He came over and asked my mom to stop us. She said she would look into it and asked our friends to stop. My second lesson was not to seek revenge on racists. Always show kindness and find a way to educate. I have to admit that he remained racist for the entire time (some 30 odd years) that he lived across from us. However, his kids were not. Education and kindness.
My parents embraced Canada and Canadian culture. They wanted us to be Sikh Canadians. My brothers played hockey, I figure skated, we took swimming lessons and had neighbourhood friends. My parents also educated us on topics that we did not learn about in school. My mom had a friend who was Indigenous and told her about life and treatment on reserves, the Indian Act, the 60s Scoop and residential schools. She passed that knowledge onto us. My interest in Indigenous people peaked and led me to obtain my BA and MA in Indigenous Studies at Trent University. I should also state that my parents educated us about the Kamagata Maru, slavery in Canada, the MS St. Louis, Africville, the Chinese head tax and the internment of Japanese Canadians during World War II.
Growing up I often heard people say “I am not racist but…” or “I am not talking about you or your family but…” I realized that while I wanted to scream and rant, I didn’t want to get people upset or too scared to say anything. If you get peoples’ backs up they will stop listening and won’t learn. Lesson 3. Discussions not debates are important. I don’t presume to know everything about DEIB/EDI/IDEA. I believe in group participation. I don’t want anyone to feel isolated. In many cases isolated youth tend to go in extremist directions. It can happen to kids of all cultural backgrounds and faiths.
I often say that I understand the mindset of people from small towns from my lived experience.
This knowledge benefits me while educating and benefits those whom I educate.
