Corner Brook woman says she encountered racism while walking
Last week Brianna Warren was on her daily early morning walk in Corner Brook. Her walk was proceeding as per normal until she says a little girl came up to her and said "hi". She was about to say "hi" back.
It was then that a seemingly normal encounter turned into anything but.
Warren said that the girl's mother yelled out and told her daughter to stay away. While at first, she didn’t think anything of it because she was a stranger, after all, it soon became apparent that being a stranger had nothing to do with it.
It was then that Warren said the woman approached her and asked her why she walks on that street every day, and what she was looking for.
The woman told her that she doesn’t let her kids play outside because she sees Warren walk along that street each morning. When Warren asked her why she then told me she didn’t trust “people like me” because of her background and her culture.
Warren, who identifies as indigenous says she was speechless. She felt "mad at first and upset" she was surprised that this is still happening in 2021. She added that, "racism is an issue in Newfoundland" and worries that, "kids will learn it at home."
The post-secondary student moved to Corner Brook from Robert's Arm three years ago and said she has never dealt with anything like that before.
Moving forward Warren said she still takes the same route every day.
Racism has been something she has had to deal with and she believes it's something she will have to deal with for the rest of her life.
Sad that people are still so judgmental and racist because of stereotypes that have been so much engrained in our culture. This is very much learned behaviour and unfortunately kids are still learning this in our society.