I am writing this today, on Holocaust Remembrance Day, the day after a most misguided act right here in our city.
It is everyone’s duty to call out this shameful display of fascism or be doomed to repeat the worst atrocities we have ever inflicted upon each other. This is how it starts.
To the men with the signs: Why do you parrot the words and ideas of the most corrupt, the most ethically, morally, and empathetically bankrupt people the world has yet to see? You mean nothing to them; they use you to create division, keeping you busy and angry with made-up problems while you lose what’s left of your freedom. I don’t need to ask if things have gone from bad to worse for you in the last 10 years. I know they have, because it’s happening to everyone and it has nothing to do with politics, or borders, or transgender people, and most certainly not immigrants.
There have been countless waves of immigration into our country: 1815-50 brought British, Scottish and Irish immigrants to Canada, 1890-1910 brought Germans, Italians, Africans, Scandinavians, and Ukrainians, 1946-60 brought continental Europeans as well as Koreans, Chinese, Vietnamese, looking for refuge from persecution, war, and social and economic changes. We are made up of millions of Polish, Syrian, Lebanese, Hungarian, Chilean, Mexican, Nigerian, American, Filipino, Sudanese, and hundreds of other ethnic groups that made their way to this country under adverse conditions, all looking for a safe place to live and raise their families.
And I’m not forgetting to whom this land belongs to in the first place. We are ALL immigrants unless you are Indigenous. People from all corners of the Earth are here; they are our neighbours, they are business owners, retail workers, caregivers, professionals, family, friends. They are an integral part of our society.
I understand you are frustrated and angry, wondering how you will make ends meet every day. But people are not your enemy. Fascism will not save you, it will destroy you. Greed is the enemy. Greed will use you to do its dirty work and then watch you drown for your efforts. Greed wants you poor, tired, sick, and broken so you can never fight back. It will never, ever help you. Community is the only antidote. We must turn to each other, not on each other. I have seen this community come to the aid of so many, without question, without hesitation, have seen people from all stations and situations reach out and get support when they needed it.
To those men with the signs, I ask you, who has truly helped you in your hour of need? Was it the company that laid you off and still made record profits? Was it the CEOs or the tech bros floating along on their yachts, or the guy preaching trash from a golden toilet?
There IS an enemy in our midst, but it’s not who you think it is.
Patricia Gitersos, St. Albert
