My piece on perceptions of South Asians within Vancouver’s media will have to be delivered tomorrow, as I am caught up in a few pressing deadlines. Nonetheless, I want to point to two quotes in particular from this Province article from this past Sunday:
“Of course, these gay bashings are disturbing,” says Popat, organizer of the Muslim gay-advocacy group Salaam Vancouver. “Homophobia is a problem in the South Asian community. But gay bashing is not a South Asian phenomenon. It crosses all ethnic boundaries.”
“Shortly after the Michael Kandola incident, I was walking along Davie Street, and two white gay men pushed me, saying I didn’t belong here,” Jaffer recalls. “It’s hard enough being South Asian and queer, but then you become alienated from the queer community as well.”
Racial profiling when it comes to gay bashing is the wrong tact to take in counteracting the problem, and I would go as far as to say that it was a way to avoid the bigger issues at the heart of intolerance.
Gay bashing aside, I am also sick and tired of the way in which South Asians are so often singled out by portrayals of violence – gangs, temple politics, Sikh extremism – but rarely portrayed in other more favourable lights, except when there is some novelty value with stories about food, music, or fashion.
I think that as a mixed race, native-born Vancouverite with South Asian blood that doesn’t happen to be Punjabi, I can offer a unique perspective on my impressions of ethnic stereotyping, lazy journalism, and perceptions of what exactly “South Asian” means in this city.
So, more tomorrow morning folks.
