Haitian and Male in Canada Ch. 05

The power of anger is something no one should underestimate. It grabs hold of you and won’t let go. And it affects you long after the feeling has abated. Whether you’re male or female, Black or White, Straight, Bisexual or Gay. Trust me. This is something I learned the hard way. My name is Bernard Lamont. A big and tall Black man of Haitian descent living in the city of Toronto, Ontario. I’m a student at the University of Toronto, majoring in Criminal Justice. Oh, and I’m Bisexual. Life sucks these days. Seriously. Adaptation is something every living thing must do in order to survive. I’m adapting to life in Ontario after moving there from Brockton, Massachusetts. I’m just not sure survival is worth it out here. What do I mean by that? Follow me.

Ever since I came to Canada, I had to adjust to a lot of things. First and foremost, Canadians are hypocrites and they’re more bigoted than the majority of Americans. They’re just better at hiding it behind their fake smiles. Most of them aren’t happy with the hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Africa, Asia and the Middle East who move into the country every year. Yet they claim to want diversity. What a load of crap. Growing up in the Republic of Haiti, I was made aware of global racism and imperialism. When I moved to the United States of America, I knew I had to be careful. In the city of Brockton, I found a home. A real home.

Brockton, Massachusetts, a city with a population of one hundred thousand people. Fifty two percent of them are folks of African-American, Asian, Hispanic or Middle-Eastern descent. It’s a city where minorities are the majority. Like Detroit, Houston, Atlanta, Washington D.C. and Los Angeles along with many cities across the United States of America. In Brockton, I made friends across the racial spectrum. My best friend Remy Pierrot is Haitian. My other friends Jesse Cox and Matthew DiMarco are Caucasian. Jesse is Irish and Matthew is Jewish. My buddy Kenny is North Vietnamese. We all hung out at the Westgate Mall on Friday nights, drinking our Pepsis and trying to work up the nerve to approach hot women. Just five guys hanging out. We’re folks of different racial backgrounds but we all went to the same school and became friends. That’s what America came to mean to me. Many people, many ethnicities, one nation.

In Canada, it’s not rare to see white folks being friends with people of color but it’s not the same thing. I think Canada has more bigots per capita than the U.S.A. Canadians pretend racism and discrimination don’t exist. Many of them, both black and white, have bought into that dangerous self-serving mythology. I’ve run into enough bigoted Canadians to know that’s not true. Another thing. Around here, bigots seem to run in pairs. I’ve lost count of how many times I sat on the bus, reading my magazine Black Enterprise, only to hear some nasty comments being whispered by a white couple sitting nearby. Yeah, racists seem to travel in pairs here, especially in Ottawa. They’re always stunned when I confront them. I’m a Black man who lived in the tough world of urban America, not one of those meek African immigrants who live out here. I didn’t bow down to racist men and racist women in America and I’m not about to start in Canada. Believe it.

In the city of Toronto, the situation is slightly better than Ottawa. In Toronto, the majority of the population is made up of non-European immigrants. The Haitians, Japanese, East Indians, Africans, Jamaicans, Chinese and Arabs have made this place their home. And they pretty much outnumber folks of European descent out here. It’s one of the most diverse cities in Canada. The only place that’s more diverse in all of Canada is the city of Vancouver. Well, the town of Vancouver is nice but it’s kind of expensive. The bustling metropolis of Toronto is cheaper. Much cheaper. It’s a nice place for the most part. Don’t buy into what Canadians from other places are telling you. Toronto is a gang-infested urban nightmare. It’s the face of the changing demographics of Canada. It’s multicultural and diverse, instead of being lily-white. Isn’t that cool?

Sorry to go all racial on you but I had to get this stuff off my chest. Oh, well. I feel better now. Much better. Why did I go off like that? A Haitian friend of mine told me how she got mistreated by the racist guards at the Ottawa International Airport. These racist bastards and bitches tend to single out Africans, Asians and Arabs for mistreatment. You’ll never hear of a guard at the Ottawa International Airport strip-searching a white person. No way. Someone should fire these racist goons and replace them with decent-minded folks who aren’t bigots. How about hiring more people of color to work at the Ottawa International Airport instead of handing out jobs to racists? Who’s with me? My friend has since filed a lawsuit against the Ottawa International Airport for racial profiling, sexism and discrimination. The media got wind of it and ran the story on the evening news. I bet those bastards and bitches who run the Ottawa International Airport are shitting bricks now!

I’m in a funk today. And not just because I had a talk with my friend about what happened to her at the Ottawa International Airport. Nope. Something else is frustrating me. I’m not entirely sure what, though. Is it my relationship with Marlon Chang? My favourite biracial gay accountant has yet to return from his trip. My new fuck buddy Wendy Paul, a voluptuous and very kinky Black woman I met in church ( of all places) has also been scarce. Classes are taking their toll on her. I can relate. The University of Toronto isn’t the easiest school in the world. I’m staying inside today. Just browsing certain social networking websites and listening to music. Nothing good on TV right now. Life sucks but hey, what are you going to do? I’ve got no choice but to live it. Until it ends.