{"id":13381,"date":"2015-07-02T17:53:23","date_gmt":"2015-07-03T03:53:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=13381"},"modified":"2015-07-15T10:44:07","modified_gmt":"2015-07-15T20:44:07","slug":"tangent-how-anti-discrimination-measures-are-enforced-elsewhere-racism-towards-me-at-a-bank-in-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=13381","title":{"rendered":"Tangent: How anti-discrimination measures are enforced elsewhere: Racism towards me at a bank in Canada"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Hi Blog. \u00a0Got an interesting story to tell.<\/p>\n

(UPDATE JULY 4, 2015: \u00a0PLEASE READ TO THE BOTTOM FOR A RETELLING OF THE STORY BY\u00a0ANOTHER EYEWITNESS.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Recently I had business at a Canadian bank, so I went to a branch of it within Canada. \u00a0My transaction required me to show government ID, so I showed my Japanese passport, of course. \u00a0That’s all I have.<\/p>\n

The teller verified my ID, but then made the comment, “It’s funny that you should have a Japanese passport. \u00a0You don’t look Japanese.”<\/p>\n

I said, “Let’s not go there. \u00a0Lose the racism and complete the transaction.”<\/p>\n

Well, after the transaction was complete, I called for his manager. \u00a0When the manager appeared, I indicated that his employee had made an untoward comment about my physical appearance and legal status. \u00a0“How would you like it,” I said to the teller, “if I said to you, ‘It’s funny you have a Canadian passport. \u00a0You don’t look Canadian.’?” \u00a0(It it important to add at this juncture that the teller was a Korean-Canadian immigrant — I know because I requested\u00a0his name from the manager later.*)<\/p>\n

The manager ascertained that the teller had said what he had said, and then was told that this behavior was inappropriate under Canadian rules and laws. \u00a0He was then sent home for the day, presumably without pay.<\/p>\n

The bank manager and I then sat down in his office where he offered his sincere apologies. \u00a0And he told me over the course of a relaxed and empathetic discussion that he understood very well where I was coming from. \u00a0He himself is Metis<\/a>, a minority in Canada\u00a0of mixed First-Nations and settler peoples, but he apparently doesn’t “look Metis” to Canadians. \u00a0This becomes an issue whenever he, for example, bargains for a car at an automobile dealership, but has his identity policed by the dealer whenever he indicates that his indigenous status in Canada exempts him from Canadian taxes. \u00a0“I produce my First-Nations ID card, of course, but I hate it when people doubt my identity just because I don’t ‘look Indian’ to them, especially when\u00a0they say so carelessly out loud. \u00a0This is unacceptable behavior for them, and it’s unacceptable for my employees too.”<\/p>\n

That’s the way it’s done. \u00a0None of these crappy\u00a0“cultural\/linguistic misunderstandings”\u00a0excuses, no shallow apologies and then everyone\u00a0gets back to work undisturbed, and zero tolerance for assuming that people have to “look” a certain way to be a “real” member of a people or nation\/state. \u00a0Justice was commensurate, swift, and public. \u00a0Well done Canada. \u00a0Dr. ARUDOU, Debito<\/p>\n

(*CLARIFICATION JULY 3, 2015<\/strong><\/em>: \u00a0I also deduced\u00a0that the teller\u00a0was a landed immigrant because a) he worked in this local branch of a Canadian bank, and you would probably need landed status in Canada in order to get that kind of\u00a0job, and b) based on his Korean accent, English wasn’t his first language. \u00a0However, I made no issue of these assumptions\u00a0whatsoever during our exchange. \u00a0I only asked for his empathy by putting the shoe on the other foot, saying, “How would you like it if…”.)<\/p>\n

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n

UPDATE JULY 4, 2015: \u00a0A RETELLING OF THE SITUATION FROM ANOTHER EYEWITNESS:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hello. I would like your readers to know that I was also there as an eyewitness, and the blog post doesn\u2019t really tell what I think to be the whole story. It\u2019s important that you see that there was more to this case than Debito quickly typed up while on vacation, because some people are really misunderstanding what happened.<\/em><\/p>\n

Reveal: I am a Canadian who has lived here for more than 40 years. I\u2019ve also lived in Japan and the United States, and, for the record, I am a white woman. I can\u2019t reveal any more than that because Debito has stalkers.<\/em><\/p>\n

Debito\u2019s recounting of the story is correct until the part where he writes that, \u201cThe manager had ascertained that the teller had said what he had said.\u201d What happened was this:<\/em><\/p>\n

The teller asked for Debito\u2019s ID in order to complete our requested transaction. Debito showed his Japanese passport. The teller verified his ID, looked back and forth at Debito\u2019s face and the passport, and then made the comment, \u201cIt\u2019s funny you have a Japanese passport. You don\u2019t look Japanese.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Debito said, \u201cLet\u2019s not go there. Lose the racism and complete the transaction.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Note that Debito did NOT raise his voice, nor did he accost anybody. MY reaction was one of shock, disappointment, and embarrassment to be a Canadian. I said to the teller, \u201cI\u2019m sorry, but we have laws against this sort of racial discrimination in Canada. You shouldn\u2019t be saying that.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The teller then apologized. \u201cYou are right, I should not have said that.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

And then we asked to speak with the manager. This was NOT about this issue, but a separate one regarding the original transaction. But the teller then proceeded to tell us that we didn\u2019t NEED to speak to the manager. The transaction was complete.<\/em><\/p>\n

I then requested, \u201cI WANT to speak to the manager.\u201d He again told us again that we didn\u2019t need to, the transaction was complete.<\/em><\/p>\n

It was at that time where the manager, whose office was within earshot of the teller\u2019s booth, came to our assistance. I asked the manager about the original transaction issue, and he gave us an answer. But because I was so agitated by the terrible customer service, we THEN brought the other ID issue up with the manager. And I said to the manager, \u201cThis kind of comment is against Canadian law.\u201d And the manager AGREED and apologized on behalf of the teller, himself, and the bank.<\/em><\/p>\n

We then exited the bank, but when we got to the car, I said to Debito, \u201cYou know, that was weird. As a member of this bank for more than 35 years, I\u2019d like to go back and get the name of the teller and the manager so I can write the bank about this.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

When we re-entered the bank, the manager greeted us. It was THEN that we were told that because the teller\u2019s behavior was inappropriate under Canadian rules and laws, the manager had sent him home for the day. (Note that we did NOT request that the teller be sent home for the day. We had no idea about what would occur. If we hadn\u2019t gone back, we wouldn\u2019t even know that that had happened, and it wouldn\u2019t be part of this discussion. We also still don\u2019t know anything about pay deduction, official reprimand, etc. After all, we did not request anything like that.)<\/em><\/p>\n

The manager then invited us to sit down in his office, where he took the time to relay his own story about his identity being policed as a First-Nations person, as Debito wrote. He also told us that he too had been to Japan and had to deal with a lot of ID policing as well.<\/em><\/p>\n

In fact, the manager ENCOURAGED us to write a letter about this employee to bank headquarters. He gave us the teller\u2019s card and his own.<\/em><\/p>\n

Now I want to make clear what everyone seems to be getting wrong about Debito: At NO time did he have a temper tantrum, threaten or attack anyone, push anybody around, or even raise his voice. He had a very graceful, calm discussion at all times. This kind of myth that you have about Debito, going in and bullying people do to things, is TOTALLY unfounded. If you\u2019ve never personally been with Debito in a situation like this, then you shouldn\u2019t make comments or assumptions like these.<\/em><\/p>\n

I left the situation feeling proud a) to be a Canadian, and b) that we have this type of system. Unlike what I\u2019ve experienced many times in situations in Japan, I left this humiliating bank situation FEELING LIKE A HUMAN BEING.<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve grown up with various Visible Minorities in Canada — Asians, Africans, First Nations, etc. — where I was not in the majority. I have never experienced this kind of blatant policing of identity in Canada. Never in Canada \u2013 not even at the Canadian border \u2013 has anyone so blatantly questioned Debito\u2019s passport or policed his identity like what I witnessed at this bank.<\/em><\/p>\n

What\u2019s even more appalling to me is not what happened at the bank, but the way you all have judged Debito, and seeing the teller, who broke the law, as the VICTIM. The law in Canada is set up to protect people from this situation, and it\u2019s one of the reasons why Canada is an easier place to live. But why are many of you, particularly when you\u2019re living in Japan as second-class residents, seeing the teller who started all this as the victim here?<\/em><\/p>\n

This is not how our customer service industry behaves. It\u2019s not the teller\u2019s naivete. It\u2019s his own personal stuff that he\u2019s pushing on us. The teller personally took a risk in making that comment. If the roles were reversed, and I made a comment like that, the same punishment would befall me. It should.<\/em><\/p>\n

Happy Canada Day!<\/em>
\nENDS<\/p>\n

UPDATE JULY 14, 2015: I GET MY COMEUPPANCE IN A FASCINATING DEBATE, BLOGGED SEPARATELY HERE.<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Got an interesting story to tell: Recently I had business at a Canadian bank, so I went to a branch of it within Canada. My transaction required me to show government ID, so I showed my Japanese passport, of course. That’s all I have.<\/p>\n

The teller verified my ID, but then made the comment, “It’s funny that you should have a Japanese passport. You don’t look Japanese.”<\/p>\n

I said, “Let’s not go there. Lose the racism and complete the transaction.”<\/p>\n

Well, after the transaction was complete, I called for his manager, and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54,28,43,36,22,5,11,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pinprick-protests","category-anti-discrimination-templates","category-bad-business-practices","category-bad-social-science","category-cultural-issue","category-human-rights","category-problematic-foreign-treatment","category-tangents"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13381\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}