The election of Barrack Obama is truly a historical event. It is an end of a certain period in American history and even in world history. Racist laws played a major role in the economy of the young country after it gained independence. Even after the civil war segregation was there, slaves were free but they had nothing and it took decades to get some rights. The biggest impact on racism was World War II; it showed that a nation obsessed with its superiority could end up with horrible things like concentration camps. After that the Afro-Americans in the US made the first steps to being equal and finally succeeded.
Movies also did a good job for society. Lots of futuristic movies showed a black president and that turned a nearly impossible image into a normal thing that became reality last fall. There are still lots of people today who remember the segregation of the 50th and for them the miracle of an Afro-American president is extra large. Just imagine it took less than 60 years to drop the old-ways. Today the color of your skin doesn’t matters in the US, proven by Barrack Obama.
Normally most of the articles say that we have a problem with this in Canada, but this time, we don’t. There is no major racial discrimination in Canada. Of course there are a number of problems with immigration, Aboriginals or various groups, but in general the Canadian society which is generally progressive, tolerant, diverse, and multicultural is against any kind of racism. From the legal side accusing a person of racism in Canada is usually considered very serious. Equal treatments, rights and freedoms without discrimination based on race (among other criteria) are legally assured by The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
If we take a look into the Canadian history we will see a number of serious racial discriminations, but still they can’t be compared to slavery in the US or to Nazi holocaust. There was slavery in Canada in 1600s, but it was abolished in 1793 by the Act Against Slavery in Upper Canada and completely abolished in 1834. From 1858 it was also a problem with Chinese migrants brought to Canada to work in the mines and on the Canadian Pacific Railway, the problem with their rights was solved only in 1923 by the Chinese Immigration Act.
One of the recent racial problems is the problem with Arabic people. After the horrible terrorist acts of September 11, Canada also became touched by minor anti-arabic racism. Of course it is not a real racism, it is more based on fear and the evil image created by the media. The so called war on terrorism has lots of negative influences. However there is also a problem with the clash Eastern and Western cultures, it is not as problematic as in France, but still some of the Muslim emigrants are not very happy with Canadian laws and restrictions. But from the side of the law those people just need to understand that a country is standing on its laws and if the laws do not suit you, you can always live in another country.
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