Dear editor,
I was at Scotiabank in Courtenay on Tuesday, Nov. 15 and I saw a fellow I used to be acquainted with.
He was on his way out and I thought it was polite to say hello to him, so I did. He looked at me and said literally, “What are you doing here, are you getting ready to rob the bank?”
I was taken aback by such a statement, so I asked him, “Why do you ask that, do I fit the profile of a bank robber?
He replied, “No, you don’t, I have known you for a long time.”
His comment triggered in my head the racist comments Donald Trump had made during his campaign, and this was just a week after his election as the next president of the United States, so I said to him, “Do you say that because I am Mexican?”
He replied, “No, you wouldn’t, but many Mexicans would.”
As you probably realize, this made me really upset, and for a second I thought I was going to react and say or do something I would have regretted later.
I was born and raised in Mexico City, but I came to Canada in 1982 and became a Canadian citizen soon after. So I have been made to believe that such behaviour is not only unacceptable but in a way illegal.
Unfortunately, Donald Trump with his public accusations has made such behaviour politically and socially correct.
I am making this public because I believe that this kind of racist comment does not have a place in our society, and people that think they can behave like that and get away with it, are not going to, without being exposed to the community they live in.
Eduardo Uranga
Cumberland