A 43 -year-old woman opened fire on the members of a church this morning, killing the pastor and her mother before killing herself. I'm all for equal opportunity, but this is ridiculous.
In local news, the Journal de Montreal, a French-language paper out of Montreal that ranks just above tabloid, recently did an exposé on the racism in Montreal. The major caption says, "Seven Days in the Skin of a Black Man". It's a rather maddening story, and it makes me sick that this shit still happens in Montreal in 2003.
In Longueuil, on the south shore of Montreal, is a bar called Surf. Our "undercover brother" went with a "real brother" to try to get some beers. I am not sure if they knew the policy of this bar before going in, what here is what happened.
As soon as they went in, a couple of waitresses started whispering to each other and looking over. The two men sat down and waited. And waited. And waited some more. Finally, a busboy approached them and said:
"Sorry guys, the girls aren't allowed to serve you people."
"What do you mean, 'you people'?"
"You people."
"?"
"You people. Not you two there, but...you people. You people."
"What, our people??"
"Okay, you people...of darker complexion..."
"You mean, black people?"
"Yes, well, not just blacks (now he is free to say "blacks" because the ice has been broken by those blacks), but hispanics, whatever."
"Why?"
"Me, I dunno. The boss told me so about three weeks ago."
"What's the reason?"
"You'll have to ask the boss. It seems as though some things happened, there were problems."
They had an interview with the bar owner. The guy justified his actions by saying that there was no racism, it's just business. He had instances where three blacks were sharing a Pepsi (not profitable) and another bar in the area was held up by a black man. So there's his justification right there, I guess. He also goes on to say that he has 20 years in the business, and that everyone should bow to his experience.
This is just the beginning. There will be six more installations. Rose is collecting all of them. Reader comments will be coming in soon, too. I imagine that there will be far more that support the owners' actions than the Journal would care to print.
