Recently I had the pleasure of speaking with people about their migration experiences.  So I thought I would share some more of what I learned.  

Herman, who I met in the park while interviewing someone else for the project, is Indian and migrated to Canada in the 1970s from Uganda via the United States.  Here is a transcribed excerpt from our conversation: 

Herman

”You know, and when I came here after I went through the euphoric period, I realized that there is racism in Canada. If it's not overt, it's very covert and that hurts even more. The thing I liked about the United States, they tell you, “Hey nigger, go.” I knew where I stood. But when you invest in people here and you find out that they are disturbed about who you are, that's devastating. That's devastating… because you've linked part of your security into the experience and then to find out it's not true.”

”So, you'll find when one of the solutions immigrants do is ghettoize, and people get really pissed off. Well, you know, all you Eastern Indians you went and took our Brampton, Brampton's like Little India.

Folks really, you know, a white person gets up every day and they feel part of their community whether they go to the butcher or wherever they are go.  We get up every day, we're the foreign guy in the butcher shop. And no matter if you've been here 40 years it's always there. Simple things like you go to the butcher shop and you're buying alien food, as far as I'm concerned, because there are no spices. You have to go to specialty stores. That experience of going into a specialty store is psychologically telling you you're not normal, you're different.  That is peoples' psychological struggle that is what really makes it an unpleasant experience.”

Listening to others is important. We can learn a lot from taking the time to get to know the people around us, in our homes, our communities, and in the world.  Some of the things we will hear will challenge us, inspire us, disturb us, make us mad, and make us sad.  Change comes at a cost, but that cost is an investment in one’s soul.