When Don Cherry ranted during a recent hockey broadcast about "you people" it triggered a national memory from 73 years earlier that changed Canada forever.
That moment ultimately led to the honouring of a remarkable young African-Canadian woman from Nova Scotia whose courage in the face of ugly racism in 1946 should inspire every decent Canadian from coast to coast.
Sadly, the countless Canadians who have and still are backing Cherry’s out-of-touch vulgar choice of words prove there is still much more that needs to be done, that Canada the True North strong and free is still a land where backwater attitudes, with all their hateful resentments towards minorities and the vulnerable, still exist with many; certainly not anywhere near the majority, but still too many.
It was during the evening of Nov. 8, 1946 when Viola Desmond heard the words “you people” when trying to purchase a ticket for a downstairs theatre seat to watch a movie.
“I’m not permitted to sell downstairs tickets to you people,” the cashier told Desmond, who would learn that African-Canadians were restricted to seats in the balcony.
As soon as Desmond realized she was being denied the seat due to race she courageously made a decision so momentous that it would forever symbolize what Canada would and should forever be, a land where everyone - regardless of race, colour, religion and sexual orientation - could be the very best of what humanity had to offer. Desmond proudly went inside the theatre and sat in the whites-only section. She was soon arrested. Her fight and enduring legacy began.
Seventy-three years later Viola Desmond is a revered legend, so much so the Nova Scotia government has apologized for the wrong committed against her. The Canadian government even proudly put her portrait on the $10 bill, a wondrous symbol and champion for social justice with her courageous struggle for rights and freedoms.
Sadly, 73 years later almost every Canadian had to hear “you people” again, this time from a revered sportscaster on a hockey broadcast. There was no apology from Cherry, and tens of thousands of Canadians rushed to his defence, bizarrely calling his subsequent firing a denial of his freedom of speech, while forgetting that many, including Desmond, were and still are denied even a basic freedom of equality.
Nevertheless, we can never forget those "you people" words. With Viola Desmond in mind they can be a reminder of the greatness of courage, strength and perseverance, which ironically enough is all stuff Don Cherry believes in for the game of hockey.
Perhaps he can also use them for a real apology of his own.
Johnnie Bachusky is the editor of the Innisfail Province.
