A Korean-born Canadian citizen has been processing racist comments directed toward him over a parking disagreement in Vancouver.
Justin, who wants to keep his last name private for safety reasons, shared his story with Daily Hive.
The incident took place around 1:30 pm on September 10.
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“My girlfriend and I were sitting in our car parked next to a curb legally,” he said.
The curb in question was located just off Granville Street at 11th Avenue. Justin and his partner were parked there temporarily just for a phone call.
“As we’re sitting in the car, these two individuals came from behind, walking to their white Mercedes SUV parked in front of us.”
In the video, you can see how the altercation begins. Some of it is a little hard to hear, but captions fill in the blanks.
Initially, one of the individuals from the Mercedes SUV asks Justin to back up. Justin suggests there was a “slight tone” in the voice. Justin backed up about a metre to comply with the demand. While we can’t see what’s in front of the Mercedes, there seems to be adequate room based on the view through the windshield.
“Fortunately, when I turned on my vehicle to back up, my dashcam started rolling, so I was able to capture the rest of the awful and disgusting behaviour from these two individuals.”
The racist comment came from this question: “Don’t you know the rules in this country?”
Justin told Daily Hive it took him a couple of days to process the event because he was at a loss for words as many things were going through his head at the time.
“I’ve been here for 19 years, and to receive another racist comment was upsetting.”
He tried to confront the driver, who was the one who commented, and in turn, he apologized, perhaps realizing what he had said. Justin had a way of interpreting this himself.
“Does this caucasian person not realize the colonization history of Canada? Are you even aware of the comment you made? Are you aware that you’re an unconscious racist?”
Justin hopes that something positive will stem from this incident.
“I hope that sharing my experience will continue to shed more awareness on racism. We all have biases and tendencies to think [in] certain ways because of society and cultural upbringing. It’s our individual responsibility to be aware of that and make conscious decisions. I try every day to treat others the same way I would like to be treated; one human to another.”
Last year, the Vancouver Police Department added forms in different languages to its website to allow people to report racist incidents like this parking altercation.
Justin says he hasn’t yet filed a police report, but it is something he is considering.