London, Ontario: a White Pride Utopia
By: Kalyani Sivakumar
Tags: Poc, London, Opinion, Racism, Canada

London, Ontario: the greatest city in the world for your local white supremacist. Your radical racist needs can be met as long as it is concealed in the lingering thoughts of supposed multiculturalism. This concealed racist behaviour is optimal as it pushes our unwanted minorities to ask a difficult question: do they stay with London’s finest racists or leave our great utopia? The people of colour (POC) can choose to go about their lives as long as they meet their daily swastika quota or be forcibly deported by Canada Border Services Agency. Being extracted from this city means that the poor, suppressed white supremacists can finally have their capirote dry cleaned by the Aryan race. As ironic as this is, it is true that for POC, London, Ontario is not a great city to live in because there is a lack of cultural diversity in the population. My family and I are endangered daily by racial prejudice and attacks, and there is a rise in neo-Nazis and anti-Semitism in London.

London has two different versions of itself: one for white people, the other for POC. In the white version, London congratulates itself on building cultural diversity centers in old YMCA buildings and sees these deserted, isolated cultural community centers as proof of its diversity. For myself and other POC, however, London is the city where I was humiliated for my culture. The city where people took pictures of me like I was a Sesame Street Character in Times Square, and who asked to borrow my cultural clothing for Halloween. For white Londoners, London “offers newcomers, families, business owners, and students alike a diverse, welcoming, and safe place to call home” just as London Economic Development Corporation’s website reads. But for POC, our reality is completely different. While ignorance can account for some of the reason behind these comments and incidents, why are POC expected to readily cope with these attacks? Although some Londoners stop at ignorant behaviours, some escalate into racially charged attacks.

Like many other POC, I’ve grown up accustomed to racism. I have experienced what it is like to be denied entry to my own property and called racial slurs. However, in all of the thirteen times that I’ve moved cities, the racism I have experienced in London has been worse than any other city I’ve lived in. I have been asked to prove that I was going to use the music room at the library for its intended purpose when my white friends have gotten access without ever being questioned. I was told that it was a common question asked towards young students during exam season, but my white friend walked in and booked a room without an issue. Notably, when I transferred to a new school here, a friend I made shared with me that, behind my back, my peers described me best as a stereotypical dance move. My new classmates reduced me, my culture, and my ethnicity to clamping their hands together, shaking their hands side to side, and wobbling their head to imaginary Bollywood music. I was told I was taking a joke too seriously though and I needed to be more “grateful” that my peers liked me enough to joke around like that. I have volunteered at a rehabilitation hospital in the Veteran’s wing for two years continously, and despite the length of time I had been there, I was continuously mistaken for other South Asian coworkers. I was told it was a compliment that we simply looked like sisters. Fellow coworkers said that immigrants do not belong here to me, a child of two minority immigrants. I was told they were just an older generation and they did not know my personal background. Male patients have made disgusting comments by calling me an island girl who wants to ride them to New Delhi. I was told it was my job to make the patients happy, not the other way around. Despite being met by a constant bombardment of racial attacks, I haven’t even gotten the worst of it. My younger brother has been chased and beat up by a group of white classmates when he was only nine years old, specifically because he was a young, brown boy. As tears rolled down his cheeks, he was told his white classmates were not identified nor were they pursued by his school because they were not on camera. He has been spit on and told to go back to India at the mall. He was told the two men who spit on him were not pursued because they left the mall and were on the sidewalk. My parents own their own business in London, but have had to confront customers who could not accept two brown people as rightful owners. They were told that they should have dressed in formal attire to a hot greenhouse and garden centre, to look like a “genuine” boss or CEO. A common customer complaint they received was that they were dirty and smelled like curry. They should have known that the smell of curry can never come off their skin, no matter how clean they are. It will never leave.

This unimpeded racism is reflected in Mack Lamoureux’s article for Vice, titled “Canada Calls For Its Allies to Monitor Far-Right Extremism”. The article explains that in London there was an anti-Islam group, Pegdia, that believed Islam was slowly taking over western countries. Five hundred people, armed with signs of hate and hearts of anger, attended an anti-Islam protest and for every racist, there were ten counter-protesters (Margison). The clear divide between the two Londons shone through the pixels of my screen as I read of the counter-protests to the anti-Islam protesters. The smile was soon wiped off my face as I read only two arrests were made. I was shocked even more as I found another article divulging into Canada’s first prison sentencing of internet hate crime. It was none other than a London man, Tomasz Winnicki. Winnicki wrote hateful messages about multiculturalism, POC, immigrants, and, in specific, the Jewish. Winnicki brought to words what reflects all around London. London shines through it’s art of racism. Graffiti of swastikas cover our parks, hide in downtown alleys, and stay plastered on buildings. The paint of London seeps into our doors as expensive neo-Nazi memorabilia is sold in our auctions in the name of “history” while not giving any of the profits to the Jewish community (Lupton). Shackelton Auctions ignored the voices of the Jewish community as they asked the auction house not to sell that art. Shackelton, in a statement, denied responsibility for the political beliefs of any potential buyers. The performative activism of Shackelton’s spewing “support of history” while erasing the voice of the Jewish community is vindictive of London’s performatism. This very performative behaviour will be the cause for the systemic racism to never erase.

London’s racism problem begins when POC, like me, are forced to leave because we feel unwelcome in this city. For the POC who choose to remain in London, they will continue to be silenced as they are gaslit and told to suppress their feelings. As long as London fails to recognize its own racism,white supremacists will continue to grow. These are the reasons that London will never get better. I am afraid to walk the streets of London as a POC. If I could, I would tell every single POC of London to leave. I am leaving as soon as I can and I wish the best to those who remain. London has built its own version of a utopia, but this utopia is not made for people like me.

Work Cited

“2 Arrested at Anti-Islam Rally in London, Ont. | CBC News.” CBC News. CBC/Radio Canada, 26 Aug. 2017. Web. 16 Dec. 2020.

“Antisemitism.” Anti-Semitism | Ontario Jewish Archives. Web.

“Canada Calls For Its Allies to Monitor Far-Right Extremism.” VICE. 7 Dec. 2017. Web. 16 Dec. 2020.

“Far-right Extremist Groups and Hate Crime Rates Are Growing in Canada.” CBCnews. CBC/Radio Canada. Web. 16 Dec. 2020.

“Jewish Group Calls for ‘disgusting’ Online Sale of Nazi-era Items to Be Stopped | CBC News.” CBC News. CBC/Radio Canada, 20 July 2020. Web.

“Ontario.” FSWC. Web. 16 Dec. 2020.