To the editor:
I'm deeply disheartened by the fatal taxi incident which took the life of an innocent human being. I am also disheartened that a driver has fled the country.
I am also disheartened that people online are directing their hate to immigrants in general. This is without any proof that the person was a Canadian citizen or an immigrant or whether they were from a European, Indigenous, South Asian, African, or other background.
People are making assumptions, a sign that racism against immigrants and minorities in this country is out of hand as seen with social media posts throughout the country as a whole.
I'm very disappointed in my own community of Terrace where I was born and raised because racism is even taking place here. We have always been a diverse community from even the time I grew up here and much prior to that from what elders have told me. It is not ok to target someone for their nationality without any sort of confirmation from the authorities.
What has happened is absolutely disgusting, but it is not completely an ethnicity issue. It is also an issue of bad behaviour. Racism is a crime and people who spread hate need to be banned from social media.
Just recently we learned a White Canadian of European descent was charged with attempted murder in Thornhill. No one mentioned his ethnic background or said he needs to go back to Europe.
Many Indigenous people were also spewing hate against minorities on a Facebook post related to the incident. It blows my mind because Indigenous people have also faced the brunt of racism in this town, too.
The double standards in society are very obvious. My main aim is not to take any sort of sympathy but to make that realization that we are all human beings. United we stand, divided we fall. We need to stop this finger-pointing. We are all Canadian. Let's do what's best for our community. We all bleed red, we all want to provide for our families, we all have emotions.
In the end, we are all God's children.
Chetanveer Singh,
Terrace, B.C.
