An injustice against any of us is an injustice against all of us

"what happens in those countries is too confusing."

"When they heard representatives of the Crown were coming to town, they wanted to send a message- so they put up the money for a Paifang. It was common for dignitaries on tours of the country to be greeted by European-style arches; Paifangs were part of a Chinese tradition. They marked districts and welcomed visitors. In a show of goodwill, they anglicized some of the banners with lines like God Save the Queen and English Laws Most Liberal.

It was a display of cultural fusion and that was part of the point. From then on, every time a Governor General came to Victoria, the community built arches all over Chinatown. And embedded within the decorations was a symbolic statement. Chinatown was a distinct community but it was loyal to Canada as long as its residents were treated fairly The problem was,

They weren't."

-Canadiana: Victoria's Forbidden City [4:45-5:36]

This will be the first of many posts explaining British Columbia's (mostly victoria + surrounding areas) long history of Anti-Asian sentiment and the ways it's still ongoing. Yes, our government takes this "seriously" and the safety level might be better than other places, but in 2020 Vancouver saw more reported hate crimes against people of Asian heritage than any other North American city.

The history of the racism that plagues the province of BC goes very, very far back and it is still very present. In future posts, I will be uncovering BC's overlooked history and how harmful stereotypes about people of Asian heritage have woven into our province's society over the course of 162 years. I will also shed light on how we, as a community, can stop the normalization of the disgusting behaviour and violence that goes on in our cities, towns and schools on a daily basis.

Please note: