Documentary looks at local racism
Posted Apr 9, 2016 6:03 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A new documentary, filmed by and featuring Calgarians, is taking a look at racism and how to fight it.
Filming for “YYC Colours” began more than a year ago after Iman Bukhari, CEO of the Canadian Cultural Mosaic Foundation, was inspired by one of her friends.
“My friend had a racist incident happen to her, and a lot of the response from people that she got was, ‘well what do you expect? You live in Calgary. You live in Cow-town. This is to be expected,'” Bukhari said. “I thought that was absolutely disgusting. Just because we live in Calgary doesn’t mean we should be subjected to racism. And I really just wanted to create something that would start a movement. That’s the point of this documentary. I want people to watch it. I want them to start the conversation.”
The film showcases Calgarians from all different backgrounds sharing their experiences of racism, as well as their ideas on how to put an end to it.
Bukhari says although Calgary is slowly changing, there is still room for more.
“Canada has this beautiful multicultural mosaic, and we need to truly embrace it. Ending racism will be a solution to many of our problems and I think it’ll help create that unity and bond within communities in Calgary as well.”
She says, ending racism is something that will happen one step at a time.
“You can start with yourself first. If you find that there are some things, maybe even you joke about things that are racist. You need to understand that they do hurt people, and they have a bigger meaning within society,” she said. “To you, it might just be a joke, but to somebody else, that’s their reality, that’s something that they face all the time. I think our first step is to look at ourselves, make sure that we are not coming from that background.”
The second step, according to Bukhari, is to look at our peers and community, to not be a bystander when we see racism happening, and to continue educating one another and standing against racist practices.
The film’s first screening was held on Saturday. The show was sold out – something Bukhari says is encouraging. There will be other screenings in the coming months, and a link to the film will also be sent out to those interested.
For more information, head to the Canadian Cultural Mosaic Foundation’s website.
