Quotes by Constance Backhouse - Page 1

We hide our racism. We just go on about our lives - may I say, white Canadians go on about their lives. African-Canadians understand racism, Indigenous Canadians understand racism: they see it all the time, they live with it.
Constance Backhouse /
Indigenous
Racism
Copy Quote
White people are so unappreciative, they don't even acknowledge and understand what it means to be white in Canada, and all the layers of privilege that come with that. So they're shocked when somebody says, 'What just happened is racist,' and they said, 'Oh no, couldn't possibly be.' They see racism as people with KKK gowns and pointy hoods with eyes cut out. And we had those too.
Constance Backhouse /
Cutting
Eye
Mean
Copy Quote
The Nova Scotian black community always remembered Viola Desmond - they didn't lose track of her, ever. Her memory was very much alive there, but the rest of us didn't know anything about her. It's just so typical of Canadians that we know Rosa Parks, in that "bad country to the south of us" - they needed this lovely, courageous woman to sit down in the front of the bus - but we wouldn't know ours, because of course we "don't have racism in Canada."
Constance Backhouse /
Country
Memories
Racism
Copy Quote
I found Viola Desmond was the first woman whose case was taken up in the courts, and it wasn't that she tried to sue them for throwing her out of the theatre; it was that they took the law and used it to arrest her. That was really shocking to me. We had no laws in Canada actually requiring segregation, like they did in the United States. But here we had people using the law - the amusements tax act - to enforce segregation, and our courts allowed them to do that.
Constance Backhouse /
People
Taken
Theatre
Copy Quote
It's so Canada. On some level, you laugh, but on another level, it's just depressing. We pride ourselves: We're not like the bad old U.S. where they had segregation, whites-only washrooms and hotels. We think we were the capital of the Underground Railroad, we were the place to where the slaves escaped, we were a much better country. But in fact, some of the black people in Canada at the time said, 'It's actually much easier in the United States because you know which hotels, restaurants, theatres won't let you in because the signs are there. In Canada, you never know.'
Constance Backhouse /
Country
Depressing
Pride
Copy Quote

Related Authors

Sun Tzu
Strategist
Thursday, Jan 01, 1970
Thursday, Jan 01, 1970
Vince Lombardi
Football Player
Wednesday, Jun 11, 1913
Thursday, Sep 03, 1970
H. L. Mencken
Journalist
Sunday, Sep 12, 1880
Sunday, Jan 29, 1956
Groucho Marx
Comedian
Thursday, Oct 02, 1890
Friday, Aug 19, 1977
Francis Of Assisi
Saint
Thursday, Jun 24, 1182
Saturday, Oct 03, 1226
George Orwell
Novelist
Thursday, Jun 25, 1903
Saturday, Jan 21, 1950
Les Brown
Author
Saturday, Feb 17, 1945
Helen Keller
Author
Sunday, Jun 27, 1880
Saturday, Jun 01, 1968
George Carlin
Comedian
Wednesday, May 12, 1937
Sunday, Jun 22, 2008
Rodney Dangerfield
Comedian
Tuesday, Nov 22, 1921
Tuesday, Oct 05, 2004
Carl Jung
Psychiatrist
Monday, Jul 26, 1875
Tuesday, Jun 06, 1961
George Bernard Shaw
Playwright
Saturday, Jul 26, 1856
Thursday, Nov 02, 1950
Marcus Aurelius
Roman Emperor
Saturday, Apr 26, 0121
Friday, Mar 17, 0180
Khalil Gibran
Poet
Saturday, Jan 06, 1883
Friday, Apr 10, 1931
Niccolo Machiavelli
Historian
Monday, May 03, 1469
Tuesday, Jun 21, 1527

View All Quotes

Top Authors

Dr. Seuss
Writer
Wednesday, Mar 02, 1904
Tuesday, Sep 24, 1991
Isaac Newton
Physicist
Sunday, Jan 04, 1643
Monday, Mar 31, 1727
Joe Biden
Vice President Of The United States
Friday, Nov 20, 1942
Julius Caesar
Roman Dictator
Thursday, Jan 01, 1970
Aristotle
Philosopher
Thursday, Jan 01, 1970
Thursday, Jan 01, 1970
Stephen Hawking
Physicist
Thursday, Jan 08, 1942
Yogi Berra
Baseball Manager
Tuesday, May 12, 1925
Tuesday, Sep 22, 2015
Sun Tzu
Strategist
Thursday, Jan 01, 1970
Thursday, Jan 01, 1970
Kanye West
Songwriter
Wednesday, Jun 08, 1977
Thursday, Jun 04, 2015
George Orwell
Novelist
Thursday, Jun 25, 1903
Saturday, Jan 21, 1950
Michael Jordan
Basketball Player
Sunday, Feb 17, 1963
Groucho Marx
Comedian
Thursday, Oct 02, 1890
Friday, Aug 19, 1977
Lucy Larcom
Poet
Friday, Mar 05, 1824
Monday, Apr 17, 1893
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Essayist
Wednesday, May 25, 1803
Thursday, Apr 27, 1882
Peter Drucker
Author
Friday, Nov 19, 1909
Friday, Nov 11, 2005

View All Authors

Constance Backhouse Quotes - Page 1

App & Tools

Related Authors

Popular Topic Tags

Top Authors

Share This Page

Stay Connected

App & Tools

Related Authors

Popular Topic Tags

Top Authors

Share This Page