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 Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 6:18 pm
Alright, so I'm writing an e-mail to the "honourable" Wally Oppal, Canadian Liberal Attorney-General / Minister or Multi-culturalism. It's basically just questioning him on his views on aboriginal equality.
First of all: If you know of any important information about Mr. Oppal or any of the cases he's worked on, I would like to hear about them, and maybe even be given a link.
Secondly: Please critique each bit of this e-mail since I am not always the best with words and I tend to babble and digress.
Thirdly: There is no thirdly, actually, I just felt like saying thirdly.
Please reply soon, as I would like to send this out as soon as possible.
To: wally.oppal.mla@leg.bc.ca
Dear Mr. Oppal,
I am a student from one of the high school's you visited, ___censored___, in __censored__. You came to talk to us about racism in the community, but if you don't mind, I would like to ask a few questions.
One of the worst situations I've seen is the murder of Grant De Patie. He was a gas station attendant who was run over by an aboriginal man named Darnell Pratt. You've previously stated that you disagreed with the decision to cut Darnell Pratt's sentence from 9 years to 5 years and 10 months, but you didn't challenge it.
Do you agree that somebody's aboriginal heritage should really be taken into consideration during a trial?
Shouldn't all Canadians be treated equally in the eyes of the law?
De Patie's murder (not manslaughter) was because Pratt wanted to avoid paying $12.30. Pratt claimed to hear screaming from under the car, and was even said to have "bragged" about it, and yet it wasn't worth an appeal.
We're not looking at equal treatment anymore, we're looking at special treatment.
The court also said they had to take into consideration his upbringing. But since when has that mattered? Whether he was raised well or raised poorly, he still committed the crime. A man is dead today because of Darnell Pratt, who will serve around 6 years in prison time. Darnell Pratt will be released as a young, 23 year old man. Grant De Patie will not get released from his "sentence".
If I went out right now and ran over a human being, then dragged them beneath my car for over seven kilometers, all the while listening to them screaming in agony, I would have gotten no leniency because I was raised in a happy home, and because I'm white.
That is very wrong.
One of my peers at my school asked my question I had for you before I had the chance, and I have to say she did so very poorly. I think she overheard me whispering about it, and wanted to take credit for the question. So, I'd like to take advantage of my current situation, and ask it.
"You speak a lot about racism towards the 'minorities' in our country, and also about the growing multiculturalism in __censored__. Shouldn't racism against caucasian people be addressed?"
According to both of us, the answer is yes.
The only difference is that I'm looking at discrimination against caucasians while you look at discrimination against aboriginals. But whether we're white or black or brown or yellow, we're all Canadian Mr. Oppal, and yet we're not being treated as such under the current judicial system.
So there it is. If you have things you think should be added on to this letter, lemme know. More situations involving racisms in the judicial system, more cases Oppal worked on, questions on who the hell Oppal is wink Please help!
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Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 12:29 pm
Wow. It's kind of cool to encounter someone who cares enough to write letters to public officials. Kudos!
Now, seeing as I'm just a damn Yankee I'm not well-informed as to either Wally Oppal or the case you're describing, so I can't really help you there.
A few grammatical suggestions:
"One of the larger situations": change to "One of the worst situations"
"Are all Canadians not to be treated equally in the eyes of the law?": change to "Shouldn't all Canadians be treated equally in the eyes of the law?"
"A man is dead today, because of": remove the comma in there
"no leniency, because I was raised in a happy home, and because I'm White": remove the first comma, un-capitalize "white"
A general suggestion: ending a piece with a question (as opposed to a statement) is usually not as strong. I encourage you to either modify the last paragraph or add another that directly states your view on this matter. Something more direct, like a "call to action".
And good luck!
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Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 4:00 pm
Thank you ^_^
Changes have been made.
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Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 8:14 pm
You should add in how he appealed a previous case when the sentence was reduced and the person was white.
Was same situation just at a lesser degree of severity.
It was a hit & run. No dragging. No screaming.
The sentence was reduced by a bit.. and Mr. Honorable fought against that and eventually got it changed back to the original sentence.
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Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 8:33 pm
RaynieDays You should add in how he appealed a previous case when the sentence was reduced and the person was white. Was same situation just at a lesser degree of severity. It was a hit & run. No dragging. No screaming. The sentence was reduced by a bit.. and Mr. Honorable fought against that and eventually got it changed back to the original sentence. I would, but I need actual sites with the information.
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Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 7:03 am
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Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 1:12 pm
I though White had a capital w...
That's what we do in History. Maybe it's a British thing.
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