DON'T JUDGE A WHOLE RACE

It's funny how racism bubbles just under the surface, waiting for an
excuse to rear its ugly head.

Last week heartbreaking news emerged that someone used a child as a
drug mule to smuggle marijuana into the supposedly alcohol and
drug-free community of Natuashish.

And it sure didn't take long for the racists to emerge from the
woodwork and head for the Internet, where they smugly tut-tutted and
suggested this was just another sign of a native community gone wrong.

Here's just one sample of what was posted on cbc.ca after the story
broke, written by a poster named DHerbert: "This was most likely a
Health Labrador charter (Air Labrador). Those Twin Otters are filled
to capacity every time, full of Innu traveling to Goose Bay for
'medical reasons,' when really, they are going on shopping sprees and
raiding the liquor store in Goose Bay. And all this, ladies and
gentlemen, paid for by OUR taxes. Free flight, free lodging, free
everything! Maybe the people of Natuashish would spend their money
('their' money) on something else if they knew the value of an earned
dollar after a day's work!"

Wow.

It'd be great if the world was such a black and white place.

Having lived in Happy Valley-Goose Bay and having seen the myriad
problems confronting Labrador's aboriginal people - most notably
their struggles with suicide and both legal and contraband drugs - I
was ecstatic when the people of Natuashish voted to ban alcohol from
their community. But I wasn't naive enough (and I'm sure they weren't
either) to believe one vote would be the answer to all their problems.

But it was a great start. It gave the RCMP the power to check
everyone getting off planes and has hopefully made some Natuashish
residents think twice about loading up their bags with liquor and
drugs before getting on that flight.

However it seems many people believe only aboriginal people want to
break the rules; only aboriginal people want to sneak some dope into
their community.

How very simple an attitude that is.

The truth, however, is this kind of problem exists everywhere in the
world. And the more stringent the ban, the more creative the
smugglers have to be to get their product in undetected.

Think about Thailand, Indonesia, Egypt or many other like-minded
countries, where the penalty for drug smuggling is death. Do you
really think that law means no drugs are smuggled into these places?

Of course not. And I'm sure you don't think the people smuggling
drugs into these countries are aboriginal Canadians. They are white
people, black people, Asian people, anyone - get the picture yet?

When the people of Natuashish voted to ban alcohol, they knew they
were taking the first step in reclaiming their lives. They also knew
incidents like this one would inevitably pop up as some tried to
break the rules.

As sad as the story was, this was a victory. It was a victory for the
RCMP; it was a victory for the residents of Natuashish who want to
turn the community around. Hopefully, it might become some sort of
victory for the child, who might wind up being raised by someone with
a sense of what being a parent really means.

But before you judge one troubled community on the basis of a few
horribly rotten apples, take a look around your own backyard. Do you
really believe there are people in your community who wouldn't stoop
to such a low to get their fix or make a quick buck? Sure there are.

Be careful when you're throwing stones. You might just wind up
hitting your own glass house.