Keywords:
White, middle-class, neighbourhood, racism, bullying, mixed-race family, cultural background, family composition, diversity, two dads, multi-parent family, equity
White, middle-class, neighbourhood, racism, bullying, mixed-race family, cultural background, family composition, diversity, two dads, multi-parent family, equity
Transcript
Kevin: I grew up in Scarborough. My parents were immigrants, I grew up – my father’s from India, my mother’s from Denmark, and they met in the sixties, and, uh, were married, so I was brought up in the seventies in Scarborough, and at that point it was kind of the east end of Scarborough closer to Pickering, and it was for the most part, you know, very middle class, white, very white. And, um, and there was a, uh, my father being Hindu, he had a little temple at home, and – and I ended up going to a Catholic school, because we had Irish neighbours who thought, that’s a good spot for – that’s the best place to get an education. [Laughter] So, my mother’s Lutheran, my father’s Hindu, I’m Catholic, going to a Catholic school. And, and so anyway I will bring this back to our kids, but I found it, like, it was very difficult. Um, there were times when, as much as I loved my father and my family and my – the cultural aspects of our family, um, it was – it was tough at times, you know, to bring Indian food, or I had friends come over and they would smell Indian food at our house, or see my father’s shrine, so it’s that – those sort of dynamics, and I think kids can be mean, and I was picked on at times about that aspect of my background and my diversity, and I think about our kids, and I think that what I don’t want for them is to be treated, um, unkindly. I was going to say differently. I don’t mind them being treated differently, I don’t want them to be treated unkindly. Um, so, yah.
Tara: Great. Great.
Kevin: And I think, building on that I would say my hope for our kids is that they would come out the other end of the school system and not regard themselves as fundamentally different than anybody else because of the composition of their family. I mean, I hope they’re different, as well, in all the wonderful ways that we are all different, that wonderful diversity, but I wouldn’t want that to be a burden for them, because they have two dads, or because they have three parents. Like, I would want them to think of themselves with the same advantages and the same opportunities as anybody else.
Kevin: I grew up in Scarborough. My parents were immigrants, I grew up – my father’s from India, my mother’s from Denmark, and they met in the sixties, and, uh, were married, so I was brought up in the seventies in Scarborough, and at that point it was kind of the east end of Scarborough closer to Pickering, and it was for the most part, you know, very middle class, white, very white. And, um, and there was a, uh, my father being Hindu, he had a little temple at home, and – and I ended up going to a Catholic school, because we had Irish neighbours who thought, that’s a good spot for – that’s the best place to get an education. [Laughter] So, my mother’s Lutheran, my father’s Hindu, I’m Catholic, going to a Catholic school. And, and so anyway I will bring this back to our kids, but I found it, like, it was very difficult. Um, there were times when, as much as I loved my father and my family and my – the cultural aspects of our family, um, it was – it was tough at times, you know, to bring Indian food, or I had friends come over and they would smell Indian food at our house, or see my father’s shrine, so it’s that – those sort of dynamics, and I think kids can be mean, and I was picked on at times about that aspect of my background and my diversity, and I think about our kids, and I think that what I don’t want for them is to be treated, um, unkindly. I was going to say differently. I don’t mind them being treated differently, I don’t want them to be treated unkindly. Um, so, yah.
Tara: Great. Great.
Kevin: And I think, building on that I would say my hope for our kids is that they would come out the other end of the school system and not regard themselves as fundamentally different than anybody else because of the composition of their family. I mean, I hope they’re different, as well, in all the wonderful ways that we are all different, that wonderful diversity, but I wouldn’t want that to be a burden for them, because they have two dads, or because they have three parents. Like, I would want them to think of themselves with the same advantages and the same opportunities as anybody else.