L-R: Sabrin Hussein, Taisiia Skydan, Kiara Lemon and Yara Soliman, pictured, spoke about discrimination and their lived experiences at the recent ninth annual CommUnity: Power of One event in Red Deer. (rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

By Josh Hall | @Vancan19

kill them with kindness

Red Deer youth share accounts of discrimination, encourage kindness at 9th annual CommUnity: Power of One

Mar 24, 2024 | 12:13 PM

Attendees were glued to the words of four youth at this week’s ninth annual CommUnity: Power of One event in Red Deer.

The event, hosted by Red Deer Local Immigration Partnership, happens every year around the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and aims to remember, reimagine and rebuild community, whilst acknowledging past injustices, and envisioning an inclusive and equitable future.

What have you learned about Indigenous culture? How can we stop teaching racism? Why is racism so prevalent on social media?

These were among the topics the four young women — all leaders in various youth programming at Care for Newcomers and in the community — discussed with the crowd.

(rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

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LIVED EXPERIENCES

The four emphasized that their lived experiences residing in central Alberta include frequent confrontations with the taught behaviour that is discrimination.

“I’ve had a few experiences where my parents were told to go back to Ukraine,” Taisiia Skydan, a grade 12 student at St. Joseph, and former newcomer from Ukraine, told rdnewsNOW.

“I hear it from kids at my school too, and it’s sad because when it comes to my friends or my parents, they’re great people who are always there for those around them. Too often, people look at your background rather than who you are as a person.”

Skydan believes discrimination amounts to a lack of education and misunderstanding of who a person is or what they’ve been through.

Sabrin Hussein, also a local grade 12, remembers being called the N-word by a classmate.

“I’d made a mistake on a lab and he just straight up called me it. That really made me feel that at the end of the day, no matter how much I try to fit into norms, I’ll always just be a weirdo with a towel on her head,” she shared.

“If I was to talk with a person who called me that, I’d tell them that a normal person will not say that word,” she says.

Yara Soliman, a grade 11 at Hunting Hills, and who immigrated to Canada from Egypt, says racism on social media is rampant, but still jarring.

“I’m Muslim and a lot of people make jokes still about how we’re all terrorists or whatever. It hurts. Maybe others won’t understand because they’ve never experienced it,” she says, noting how reels and stories can be rife with racism and toxicity.

“I see these posts and I can relate because there have been multiple times when I’ve been out walking and people have thrown stuff at me. One time, a guy shot me with a toy gun, this little ball — and he was screaming at me.”

Twenty-year-old Kiara Lemon, who is Indigenous and works at the Red Deer Native Friendship Centre, says sharing her perspective on stage was empowering.

“We are youth who want to have voices and we feel comfortable doing this. That’s a really big shift,” says Lemon. “We have so much to say, but not everyone feels like they have the voice to say something, especially in a room full of so many adults. We don’t get a lot of opportunities to say we think something is important and that everyone should listen.”

Lemon’s maternal side is Indigenous and paternal side is white, but she is white-passing, she admits.

“There are many jokes I hear about Indigenous people, and a lot of people say these things because they think they’re in a safe space with me, because I look white,” she says. “Then I have to admit it affected me, and be like, ‘You’re talking about my mom, my family etc.’ And people believe I try to take all the benefits of both sides. Sometimes I just feel like I don’t fit in.”

TACKLING HATE

Alberta RCMP Hate Crimes Coordinator, Mohamad Khaled, says the rate of hate crimes always ebbs and flows depending on economic, social, political and international events.

“The main message when it comes to hate crimes or incidents is to report, report, report. We understand there are barriers; perhaps someone has had bad experiences with the police, maybe there are language barriers, or maybe someone has immigrated from a place where law enforcement isn’t trusted. Here, when you report, you’re holding someone responsible for their actions,” says Khaled.

(rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

“Essentially, you’re taking steps to stop that behaviour, and it may help another investigation.”

Khaled’s department recently trained school resource officers around Alberta on hate crime awareness and how to navigate those types of reports by youth.

“Many people need to be at the table to address hate, be it lawmakers, teachers, community agencies, the media, artists and others,” he says.

If there’s one thing the four youth agree on, it’s that kindness can rule the day.

“People don’t realize how impactful kindness is,” says Skydan.

When Lemon was much younger, life involved many gatherings, which are powerful, she says.

“CommUnity: Power of One is really good for bringing people together and giving everyone the opportunity to actually learn and ask questions,” Lemon says. “People can really humble themselves here and realize that yeah, we have differences and those need to be shared and expressed, but we’re also so much the same that how could we not get along at the end of the day?”

To learn more about Red Deer Local Immigration Partnership and Care for Newcomers, visit their websites.

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