Canada and Racism

If Canada is to be all that it can be, we have to address the same issues that the rest of the world is facing in terms of racism and our past. I have been considering the greatness of Canada in light of some shameful episodes in our past. How do we understand those times and events? My basic premise is that when people know more that they do better. In my own life, I have witnessed older Canadians with troublingly racist views. They did not seem to be evil or bad people but when I looked more closely they were people with very limited experience of others, little real education and in fact, their dominant characteristic was fearfulness. Fearful people can do terrible things. They overestimate the threat and once they decide that the threat is formidable they achieve a mind set that precludes new information (stereotypes) and that justifies actions that are evil (hate speach and racist actions).

The TED talk that I have posted below discusses racism in terms of the last American election. It is done by a mathematician who came to fame by predicting fantasy baseball. His name is Nate Silver and he illuminates the issues in a very even handed way.  I hope you will take the time to hear his talk.