Shut up before I call immigration on you...

Okay, so this might be the moment that the 15 minutes of shame begins. It might not.

For Mother's Day, I took my mom to see CRASH, starring Don Cheadle, Sandra Bullock, Matt Dillon blah blah blah. I don't really care about who was in it (although I really appreciate the many roles of Don Cheadle), so much as the story behind it. So I'll skip this part.

I have become fascinated by the appropriation of language. From "bling bling" to the zizzle-speak to dude, son, god, homie, star, differently, still, bred'ren, guy etc; I have grown up in a world where language has the ability to transcend social lines and speak in unison with the oppressor and the oppressed.

Language is the key in CRASH. CRASH, directed by Paul Haggis, written by Haggis and Robert Moresco is a wonderfully executed film. Its depiction about the intersections of life and the events and biases that weave between them without actually "playing the race card" are quite interesting to see unfold in the film. At the beginning of the film, Graham (Cheadle) is an L.A. cop who, after briefly assessing a crime scene says that it's the sense of touch that people in L.A. lack. He continues saying that since nobody in L.A. actually touches- no bumping shoulders like NYC or squeezing by narrow passages, etc. people crash into each other with their cars just to fill that void. As we continue to watch the lives of 6 main characters, we realize just how imbedded our isms, and prejudices are.

For example I laughed (hard) when an Asian woman with a heavy accent threatened a Spanish cop with calling immigration on her and telling her to go back to her country. I didn't laugh because of what she said. Actually, I did. But as I did I thought about the many instances when people with thick Sri Lankan, Brazillian, Pakistani, Korean or even Eastern European accents would ask me where I'm really from and look baffled when I tell them I was born and raised in Canada. Their experession is even better when I'm accused of theft (on so many occassions... more on that later) and am asked if such behaviour is tolerated in my country. Yeah, I laughed and I'm not sorry for it. Racist son-of-a-bitches are so bloody ignorant that you can't help but laugh. If I was the violent type, someone would get knocked the **** (fuck, in case you didn't get it) out.

I also laughed when Don Cheadle blew off his mother on the phone saying, "Not now mom. I'm in bed with a white woman [who was actually Spanish... but same difference right?]". The laugh was more out of shock than anything, but also because I remember the hoover-maneuver rule with my guy friends: Mouth like a Hoover, your ass better maneuver (or some dumb shit like that). I got the idea. It's like passing the blunt counterclockwise- it fucks up the rotation.

I can understand how this could be well recieved in the US. There has been a history of documenting race data in statistics, but in Canada?

There would be a million-man, woman, queer, aboriginal march protesting against the movie. I know I shouldn't create false arguements, but I can't help it. After travelling, I think that I now have some credible grounds for saying this. The Albertan activist/feminist believes that it's okay to equate diversity with a "wonderful selection of African and Caribbean foods". The Yellowknife "socially conscious" person chuckles (just a little bit) when reading about a university educated woman with 4 children who is widowed and ends up on welfare with a part time night job. The Francophone activist believes that the French Nationalism issues has no impact on race or class. Yet, despite these varying interpretations of this extremely touchy subject, one statement remains: "There is no racism in Canada" That's right, it was smuggled past that straight-backed Mountie and "tolerant" and oh-so-friendly American immigration officer and dumped back on American soil as the overt piece of shit that it is. Give me a break.

Had this movie been set in Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto, Montreal or Ottawa there would be an uproar about what the world this about this tolerant and "accepting" nation. In my frank opinion, Canada needs its own CRASH. It's easy to point out the obvious: you're fat, you're black, you can't speak english, you're wearing a well-recognized pointed white hood that is historically associated with racially motivated crimes. Too easy. It's the silence that we need to learn to point out. The silence that only pops up in conversations with me when someone asks me if the weather better "at home" than it is here.