Article review

http://www.thecoast.ca/halifax/hidden-racism/Content?oid=1072189

This is an article that was in Coast that I came across and thought it was pretty interesting. It was based off of a story by the CBC that reported a Shoppers Drug Mart in Dartmouth locking up their black hair products because "black customers stole more than white customers." This in my opinion is horribly racist and I'd be extremely embarrassed if I worked at that store or was the manager who made that comment. The author of
The Coast article makes really good points. She talks about how it close to impossible to see racism in Halifax, but not because it's not there but because it is hidden, which I completely agree with. If you, your friends or family aren't a 'visible minority' than you often go about your daily business and don't think about racism or that it's going on in Halifax at all. This is until you hear about something like this in the news or a story from a friend and then most people are shocked or appalled, thinking this is strangely out of the ordinary. The author then goes on to talk about the 350 comments left on the CBC article, where a large portion of the people were defending the stores actions. I think most of this comes from the shock factor that Oh no, this couldn't happen in Halifax/Dartmouth so there must be some sort of reasonable explanation.
     The author also mentions at the end of her article about Africville, which we talked about a lot in class and also watched a movie. A Black community that was basically kicked out from where they were living to make room for the city's new plan at the time. They were disbursed in two main parts of Halifax but also in Dartmouth and some families left the province, or in some cases the country. This is clear example of stripping people of their rights and in my opinion an example of racist actions. 40 years later it is still a very sensitive subject for many of the older members of the Africville community, which is completely understandable. The damage has been done and in their opinion it hasn't been reversed. Although, there is some movement and progress like the name changing of the road, the construction of a new church resembling the old one that the city tore down in the middle of the night, and also there is talk of some sort of fund, which I'm not too familiar with.
     At the end of The Coast article the author gives her own examples of the racism in Halifax. Her first example is of her friend's fiance who is black male and he has not been let into a prominent bar in Halifax because of 'the way" he was dressed. I find this interesting because it has happened to a lot of my guy friends but also this is the first topic on my discussion board, which I did before I saw this article. It just goes to show that the bouncers at these bars in Halifax have done the same thing to many men. To be completely honest, I've never heard of any of my white guy friends not being allowed into a bar, except maybe for the fact that they were too drunk and couldn't control themselves. But if a black male (or anyone for that matter) is in the right state of mind, dressed appropriately (to the majority of people's standards), has money and wants to go into a bar with their friends, why are they so often stopped, discriminated and then told to leave? I've had a friend, on his 19th birthday go to a bar and not let in because his plain white t-shirt was too long. After asking the bouncer how short it has to be and the bouncer not answering him he told them it was his birthday and he just wanted to have fun with friends, still denied. The most annoying part to this is when the bouncer calls another bouncer over and says "her man what do you think about what this guy's wearing?" It feels like they're just doing it because they can and that they're on some sort of power trip. I've often heard from multiple people that the bouncers at one particular bar are racist, it's almost like a known fact. I think that more people should speak out about their experiences with this sort of thing so that the people of Halifax and Dartmouth can know that it does go on, daily, so they won't be so shocked when they hear that one random story and think it's a rare occurrence.