Live Out Loud - Adventures of a mom

Racism. Ugly word. As a Canadian, we say we reject any form of racism.  But can we really reject it, fight it and champion the disenfranted, minority and powerless all together? Can we speak up to it if we do not know what it is, what it sounds like, what it looks it? There has been a lot of talk lately in my circle of friends about this topic.  Sadly, at least one piece of news came 'too close to home' - someone attacking people of Asian descent in our neighbourhood. Racism has caught our attention.   But, are we recognizing it because the crime involved a physical attack?    What if there was no physical attack?    Would we be as shaken and concerned? I am not belittling the case, nor am I happy or calm -- there is nothing calming and ok about this, but I think posting that "this is not OK" is not going to do anything to change the underlying issues with racism. Stereotypes, Prejudices, Discrimination and Racism Racism is a prejudice, discrimination...

As a third world kid, I always struggled to find a niche.  My dream was always to blend in.  But before you say anything, let me speak up.  This went deeper than a teenager's desire to fit in and find her place in her world.  When I say I wanted to blend in, I mean exactly that...I didn't want to stand out. No matter how much I tried, no matter how fluent my Spanish was, no matter how culturally relevant I had learned to become....I would always be Chinese first to my friends. You might smirk at what I'm about to say, because I know it doesn't jive well in our North American psyche.  But I still remember...I must have been in my tween years.  Our home's dining room had wall to wall mirrors.  And though I don't remember the context of the meeting, I remember my mom holding the two palms of her hand to the two sides of my face.  She forced me to look at myself in the mirror and asked me: "What do you see?" I got angry at mom and tried to bru...