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I've shared this story on here before, but it bears repeating. As a 19yo Laurier student I went to a Halloween party in New Hamburg and had to face someone dressed as a Muslim terrorist.
I didn't know him. He was a friend of a friend. I was the only POC at the party. His face and hands were painted brown. He wore army fatigues, a ghutrah (head wrap) and had fake bombs strapped to his chest.
I was in shock when I saw him, but I didn't say anything out of fear of making a scene. This is common for most POCs when we're the only ones in the room. Thankfully my friend went up to this man and said: "your costume is offensive, go home and change then apologize to Anam."
The man went home and changed. He washed the paint off his hands and face. He profusely apologized to me, then he said: "we don't see a lot of people like you around here."
This is why representation matters. This is why speaking out against racism matters, especially in small-town Ontario. The point is not that he was called out and apologized. The point is that he felt comfortable enough to wear an offensive costume in the first place.
This is just one small example of the overt and covert racism BIPOC communities continue to face.
