Second-Generation Connections Wanting to Change My Country—Canada
| Date | 01 March 2008 |
| Published date | 01 March 2008 |
| Author | Sumaira Shaikh |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070200806300110 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Sumaira Shaikh is a journalist and law student at the University of New Brunswick.
Until I was six, I didn’t realize there was a difference between myself and
anyone else. Race and colour were of no significance to me until one day
when a classmate in Bradford, Ontario, asked me with a frown,
Why are
you so brown
? My only logical explanation at the time was that I drank too
much Hershey milk. That was when I slowly started to realize that maybe
the image I saw in the mirror was different from other people. More nega-
tive experiences started to unfold then. While I spoke no lang uage other
than English until I was about nine, I was told by the school that I need-
ed to take English-as-a-second-language (ESL) classes in Bradford. Of
course, the only other people in my ESL class were a few black kids and
a girl who spoke Portuguese. I didn’t last long in the class—they quickly
realized I didn’t need it—but the fact that I was put there based on my
colour stays with me—and scarred me. With that negativity began the
journey of creating
me
.
I am half Pakistani, a quarter Algerian, and a quarter Saudi Arabian,
born and raised under the white and red maple leaf. My father is of
Pakistani descent, while my mother is of Arabic descent: her father was the
son of a religious scholar from the Islamic kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and
her mother was the daughter of an Algerian who had fled French rule and
eventually found his way to India.
This complex ethnic identity has created its own problems. To many
people, identity needs to be simplified; either you are Pakistani/Indian or
| International Journal | Winter 2007-08 | 123 |
Sumaira Shaikh
Second-generation connections
Wanting to change
my country—Canada
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