I have a friend. Well, actually I have a few friends but this particularly one is American. And he's black. Very nice guy. He told me a short anecdote. He grew up black in America and through the course of his upbringing became a black militant. He "knew" that when white people spoke to him they saw mainly the color of his skin and he felt everything that he said was filtered through that. It didn't make for a pleasant life.
Several years ago he came to Canada for a company he worked for. Shock may be a bit strong of a word but very quickly he realized that when people in Canada spoke to him they did not see the colour of his skin. They were just speaking to him. They did not have any bias or already formed opinions about the type of person he was. It changed him.
He is no longer a militant and even being back in the US of A he finds because he has experienced more tolerance that he can be more tolerant.
Yea Canada!
