The Question
by Lawrence Hill
Excerpted from "Black Berry, Sweet Juice: On Being Black and White in Canada"
Canadians have a favourite pastime, and they don’t even realize it. They like to ask—they absolutely have to ask—where you are from if you don’t look convincingly white. They want to know it, need to know it, simply must have that information.
1 Comments:
Wow Kim what a great article!
I actually get that question alot from colleagues at school or at the mall.
It bothers alot of people that I can pass for a "white" person especially when they see me with my sisters that do wear the hijaab.And they realize that I am not.
I was sitting on a bench in Carlingwood mall and this total stranger sits beside me and smiles. He was white and around 40. He finally says "so where are you from, obviously not from around here" and so I just smiled and he began to guess
" Italian..........Greek....... Bosnian....Lebanese...uh ...." So I just decided to tell him and a sense of relief showed upon his face.
The first few times I got that question, I did not mind. I would happily explain my background. Today I get very annoyed and feel that it is nobody's business.
Whether I am black, white, chinese, korean, indian, arab or turkish it should'nt matter at all.
Love from Baan.
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