Racism in Canada is certainly still problem, but it used to be a lot worse. The best example of racism in Canada would be residential schools. Although the last school in Canada was closed in 1996, the issues that they caused are certainly still present today. An example would be the loss of heritage and culture as traditions could not be passed on from previous generations. I can only imagine the amount of knowledge lost due to residential schools. Another example of racism against Indigenous peoples is the outdated and offensive term “Indian”. Although we have known for hundreds of years that the people native to North America are not Indian, I still hear people use this term to describe First Nations Peoples. My social studies teacher used this term many times throughout last semester, and it made me quite upset. I did not like how someone who had been teaching this topic for so long was still using outdated language. I can relate this back to In the Heat of the Night and the atrocious language seen in that book. I can say that I am glad that the language used in that book is no longer acceptable to be used in the same way within our society today. Another example of racism in Canada is the hate East Asian people were getting at the beginning of covid. The widespread anger and blame that Canadian people put on all East Asian people just because COVID-19 originated in China was ignorant and racist indeed. The amount of anti-Asian hate crimes jumped by over 300 percent in Canada in 2020.
While reading In the Heat of the Night, my opinion of racism has not changed too much, I did not learn anything earth-shattering, nor was anything stated in the book or activities connected to the book about racism that I did not already know. I did enjoy the novel; I thought the plot was very well written, and I was able to connect with the characters. What I took away from the book was the fact that racist tendencies can be changed if you are willing to take the time to change them.