White and Religious Superiority
"Racism" is what happens when someone dislikes or
mistreats a person just because of their race. Even today many countries
like South Africa, the United States and even Canada have trouble with
racism. But at least today governments and schools try to educate people
to understand and accept their differences. Countries like South Africa
are now trying to turn things around. A hundred years ago racism was
common everywhere. At the turn of the century, non-whites in the colonies
were feared and treated as less than equal. Robert Hong says:
As was... the case with other non-whites, the Chinese were [looked
upon] as inferior beings. From the white colonists' point of view, there
was little "redeemable" value in their culture, and
their continued immigration only threatened the social and economic
fabric of life in the colonies. 18
Many people thought the Chinese and other non-whites were not as good
as white people. They believed in "white superiority."
These people thought that non-whites were not as smart as whites. They
believed that the white way of doing things was better. They thought
that contact with non-whites might harm white culture.
These ideas are not accepted today. The Canadian government encourages
"multiculturalism." This means that all cultures should
be respected and kept alive. But at the turn of the century no one thought
this way. Slavery in the United States had ended only 50 years before.
The old idea of white superiority was deeply set in people. The Chinese
faced constant racial prejudice. Because they were non-white and had
a very different culture, they were sometimes looked upon as lesser
people.
Unlike most Newfoundlanders, the Chinese were also not Christian. Many
Newfoundlanders, whether Protestant or Catholic, did not take the Chinese
religions like Buddhism or Taoism seriously. They thought that Christianity
was the only right religion. They wanted the Chinese to become Christians.
But most Chinese did not want to do this.
Being non-white and non-Christian made things very difficult for the
Chinese.
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