Canada, officially “ multicultural” nation has a sad of racism. It is puzzling and disturbing that a country built by immigrants continues to find ways to perpetuate and justify racism. From the aboriginal people to the Chinese, Japanese, East Indian and once again the Chinese, people search for reasons to vilify and demonize the “other”. An interesting shift has occurred in racism. Where the people of the 18th and 19th centuries tried to explain and justify racism and slavery on the basis of “science,” Canadians today allow racism to grow on the basis of economics. In other words, the 18th and 19th century scientists sought evidence in the size of the brain, the color of the skin, the natural order of class and caste as well as Bible to support their argument that some people are naturally inferior to others, today may be strongest reason for racism.
18th century Scottish philosopher David Hulme wrote in 1753, “I suspect the negroes and all other species of men to be naturally inferior to the whites. There never was a civilized nation of any other complexion. The proof of the inferiority of black people was essential to the justification of slavery. Charles White wrote in1795 “the white European is the most beautiful of the human race. No one will doubt his superiority in intellectual powers and his capacity is naturally superior to that of every other man.’’ By the 19th century it was widely believed by whites that the “human race was divided into superior whites inferiors.”
The concept of inferiority seems to be a pre-requisite for the spreading of racism. As a person of color, I have noticed that racism today is fueled more by economic success of Asian people than by the color of our skin. In Vancouver in particular, the wealthy Asian immigrant is a ready source of criticism condemnation. I believe the source of racism today is different. People of color have clearly demonstrated that they are just capable as white people in every arena of life. Ironically, it is their success that causes racism to thrive. This may be based on envy and fear white people will not be able to compete. The economic success of Asian people id used against them to explain the lack of opportunity for white people in their own country. Different reasons lead to the same result.

Storey John. Cultural theory and popular culture: An Introduction. 6th ed. Athens: university of Georgia press, 1998.print. p,175.
Ibid. p,174.
Ibid. P.175.