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Regional: Race relations organizations needed
Commentary by Mac Olsen
for Smoky River Express
It sickened me to hear about the killings in Fort Hood, Texas Nov. 5, when Nidal Malik Hasan, a U.S. Army psychiatrist, opened fire at a military processing center, killing 13 people and wounding dozens of others.
He disagreed with fellow servicemen about U.S. military operations in the Middle East. But what he did is absolutely wrong! He had no right to target fellow servicemen!
A few days later, I saw a report on CNN about Muslim Revolution in New York City, which incites others to kill Americans, specifically soldiers, and praises 9/11.
“Yousef al-Khattab and Younes Abdullah Mohammed preach that the killing of U.S. troops overseas is justified. In their thinking, so were the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States — and so are attacks on almost any American,” according to CNN.
“Americans will always be a target — and a legitimate target — until America changes its nature in the international arena,” Mohammed said.
However, they are not unlike Adolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler and Adolf Eichmann, who incited racial intolerance and ordered the genocide of millions of people.
Yousef al-Khattab and Younes Abdullah Mohammed are moral cowards for inciting hatred and intolerance, racial or otherwise. They might have grievances against their own government, but to promote the killing of anyone is nothing less than a crime. No one has the right to promote hatred, intolerance and extremism against anyone.
Sure, these incidents occurred in the U.S. and not Canada. Moreover, the advocacy of racial hatred is a crime under Canadian law, so Yousef al-Khattab and Younes Abdullah Mohammed could have been charged and convicted here accordingly.
But as Canada is an ethnically diverse country, including the Peace River region, more can always be done to promote racial tolerance and understanding. I lived in Thompson, Manitoba for 5½ years, which has done a lot to promote diversity and understanding.
The City of Thompson established a race relations committee with one of their council members as a board member. Also, a non-profit multicultural society was established and runs ESL and other second language courses for those new to Thompson and Canada. The society has also conducted research with employers to help them become more understanding and accommodating of their employees’ needs and concerns.
But it surprises me there are no multicultural societies and municipal race relations committees in the Peace River region. The only recent attempt at cross-cultural co-operation I am aware of is the Common Ground Initiative, a partnership between the municipalities of Slave Lake and High Prairie with their respective friendship centres.
A series of meetings have been held since 2008 in both communities. In the case of High Prairie, cultural awareness, education and youth participation are among the issues the parties have agreed to work on. Such co-operation is meaningful and welcome, because it can help to increase understanding and tolerance for all cultures.
Yet, to make all ethnic groups feel welcome, multicultural societies and municipal race relations committees should be developed across the region, to address issues of common concern.
Granted, there’s no guarantee neo-Nazis, Muslim extremists or other radicals won’t pop up in our midst. But organizations like the ones I advocate can help to reduce the chance of them rearing their ugly heads.
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