"Speak White": le pire et le meilleur de notre province

LE PIRE:

Dans le Edmonton Sun du 19 juin 2009, on a publié la lettre suivante :

I want to know why Stephen Harper comes to Calgary and speaks French. Who is he talking to? If he can't talk white, stay out of Alberta. Go back where they like this kind of garbage.

James McCarroll

Lorsqu'on parle du légendaire discours des anglo-suprémacistes de "Speak White", j'ai souvent l'impression que les gens doutent de sa véracité, ou du moins, croient que c'est un anachronisme. Voilà la preuve que cette haine existe toujours.

Mais ceci n'est pas un exposé de la haine autant que sur le progrès fait depuis vingt ans dans l'esprit du public albertain.

Dans le Edmonton Sun du 20 juin 2009, on a publié les réactions suivantes:

Re: James McCarroll's Friday letter. Could he please explain what "talk white" means. Since when does one's skin colour suggest the language spoken? Maybe Mr. McCarroll needs to research Alberta's history and realize that this part of Canada was originally home to many aboriginal tribes and then settled by French, Ukrainian and Russian farmers/settlers (to name just a few). Also, our country has two official languages, French and English. The ability to communicate in more than one language is something that should be strived for.

Marcia Plane

(McCarroll's remarks were stunningly ignorant.)

When I read the letter from James McCarroll I was stunned, speechless and insulted that someone would be bigoted enough to write such a statement about Stephen Harper speaking French in Alberta. What does Mr. McCarroll mean when he says, "If he can't talk white, stay out of Alberta"? What does colour have to do with language? And what difference does it make that Mr. Harper speaks French in a bilingual country? There are many French-speaking citizens in Alberta and they have just as much right to hear what Mr. Harper has to say in French as do all the English-speaking citizens who have to hear him speak in English. When Mr. Harper speaks, everyone has the right to understand what he is saying whether they live in Alberta or any other part of Canada. To see first-hand the diversity of our wonderful cultures, I invite you to take a trip across this country. When Edmonton was founded, there were English, Scottish, Irish, German and French here. In order to communicate with each other, everyone spoke Cree.

Marlene Schoonmaker

(Really?)

RE: James McCarroll's June 19 letter. Last I checked, Canada is a bilingual country. Anyone dealing with the federal government is entitled to service in either English or French. Of course, this is ignoring the even more glaring problem of your letter in which you say Harper should "talk white." There is no "white" language and you may have been too ignorant to notice that both anglophone and francophone speakers were historically Caucasian. Alberta would do fine without your racist beliefs. So why don't you take your own advice and go where they like this kind of garbage.

Joshua Torrance

(You asked for it, Mr. McCarroll.)

Comments

[Rédigé par : Jean-Claude Giguère]

Vous avez raison. Il y a 20 ans je doute que l'on aurait pu lire les réponses à la lettre de M. McCaroll que vous citez dans l'Edmonton Sun. Je ne suis pas surpris cependant qu'il existe toujours des personnes qui pensent comme lui. Il y en aura malheureusement toujours.

[Rédigé par : Nike Shox]

La santé est le bonheur.

[Rédigé par : Uggs On Sale]

Il a été la politique du bon vieux messieurs à faire sa chileren l'impression que la maison a été le plus heureux dans le monde, et je la valeur de cette maison délicieux --- sentiment comme l'un des dons les plus précieux, un parent peut donner.