Friday, June 3, 2011

No Dogs and Chinese Allowed

Last week a dissatisfied reader complained that he or she found the name of this blog offensive as it was a play on signs that appeared in some isolated Toronto area beaches during the 1930's and 1940's.
 "NO DOG AND NO JEWS'

Let me assure readers that the origin of the name of this blog has got nothing to do with those antisemitic signs. At the time I started up this blog, I was unaware that these type of signs even existed.
Many readers wrote to me to tell me about those "No Dogs" signs, making the same connection as the aforementioned reader with most referring to signs in the Toronto area.
After a bit of research, I did  find mention of these  signs with the strongest source being a reference from a history of Toronto's first synagogues. "One resort posted a sign reading “No Jews and No Dogs. Link

Here's a second reference;   
“In the 30’s Toronto was still very much a British colonial city. English Anglo-Saxon Protestants held power in the city and made 80% (‘31) of Toronto’s population. Many non-British immigrants had been brought to Canada from all over Europe as cheap labourers, and made up a large part of Toronto’s working class. These immigrants were second class citizens and were not granted the same rights as the ‘British’ citizens. The Jewish community was the next largest ethnic group after the British immigrants, making up only 7.2% of the population. Many establishments banned Jews from entering with signs  reading “Gentiles Only” or “No Dogs, No Jews”.
As for these signs appearing in Quebec, I found but one reference actually making mention of it; 
"In addition, some buildings were subject to restrictive covenants that prevented their sale to Jews. Many clubs, beaches and resorts were closed to Jews. There were signs posted that said; 
Interdit aux juifs ou aux chiens,” or   Chrétiens seulement!”. 
 These signs were posted on the golf courses in Halifax at the door of the hotel in the Laurentians, in rural Ontario in the lake region of Manitoba and the resorts of British Columbia ." Link  
I can't say that the evidence is overwhelming that the " No Dogs" signs ever existed in Quebec.

At any rate, this sorry saga of antisemitism has nothing to do with the name of this blog, but rather, the name honours  a scene in my favourite BRUCE LEE Kung Fu movie, 'Fist of Fury,' where Lee's character, suffers from discrimination when as a Chinese, he is refused entrance to a park reserved for native Japanese.

Watch the clip and you will probably understand my motivation;



The scene  is very inspiring (at least for me) especially when Bruce Lee decides to fight back and destroys the very sign which describes the outrageous discrimination.
And so "NO DOGS AND ANGLOPHONES" was born, a play on the sign in the picture at the top of this piece.

Now that the same reader who complained about the blog title thought that this 'type' of blog is counter productive and may actually increase sentiment for sovereignty. As such, he offers, that I'd  be better, helping our community by not publishing these 'inflammatory' ideas.

I'm sorry but I can't agree less.
Writing about the unpopular truths is never something that will be roundly accepted.

This premise of not 'rocking the boat' is what leads, in the most extreme case, to dangerous totalitarian regimes, the likes this world has seen too often.
I'm not suggesting that Quebec is on it's way to such a destination, not at all. But dissenting voices is what keeps governments on its toes and luckily there are plenty of dissenting voices in Quebec, both English and French.

Even a tiny blog like ours contributes to democratic dissent.

Perhaps the greatest lesson of the power of the printed word to bring down the corrupt and evil excesses of government can be taken from the famous open letter. "J'Accuse,"  written by Émile Zola in 1898 indicting the French government's false conviction of French army officer Alfred Dreyfus. Read about the famous Dreyfus  affair

In the end, the government fell, but not before Zola was forced to flee to England because of the pressure put upon him.
Should he have given up and not rocked the boat?

I don't equate myself to Emile Zola, but his heroic and lonely battle that he waged at great personal expense, in a successful effort to the propagate the truth in the face of so much hatred and scorn, inspires me, as it should you.
Zola teaches us that the few may be right and the many may be wrong. He teaches about perseverance and faith. He teaches us that we must not give up our principles and never stop fighting for what we believe in.
Most importantly, Zola teaches us that the few  can prevail.

And so we should not be afraid to offer dissent, especially considering that in doing so, here in Quebec and Canada, we do not place ourselves in any great danger as those who fought for their rights in the past.
Those who refuse to offer dissent out of fear, forfeit their right to complain.

And so my choice of the name of this blog was not based on the humiliating antisemitic signs of the past.
It is inspired by a movie, where the hero decides to fight back against unjust discrimination, his determination and prowess inspiring and uplifting.

28 comments:

  1. Editor, very eloquent response. I hope the offended reader is now clear and there is no longer any misconstruction.

    I wrote a response in the prior day's blog about James Janos, a.k.a. Jesse Ventura, a former Rolling Stones bodyguard, U.S. Navy Seal, pro wrestler, state governor, lecturer and author. A very full life, his.

    Someone posted a link about what he talked about how there is a conspiracy to control the world by an elite few, and right now the internet is the most powerful means for all of us to freely express ourselves, that is, unless and until the government figures out a means to control the internet.

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  2. You don’t have to justify the name of your sight one bit.

    Its called freedom of speech, If someone doesn’t like it, get lost and shut up. The rest of us get it, its not just about you dummy.

    The name is perfect. Ask yourself a simple question?

    What do racist, bigoted anti-English language laws like bills 22, 178, 101…really say?

    Well it says you are not wanted, get out, we hate you…bigotry, racism, intolerance, xenophobia…

    So ya, no dogs, no anyone but “french-metis” wanted. You can spin this anyway you want language Nazis. But informed thinking people know exactly whats been going on in Kebec for a long time now.

    Repeal the racist bill 101, give us back our equal rights or shut up. Anything else coming from your brain dead mouths is just spin, lies and propaganda.

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  3. I made the Bruce Lee connection the first time I read the Blog, but then again, I grew up in the 70's and idolized Bruce Lee.
    Great Blog, keep up the good work.

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  4. I spoke with my father about this site, and although we know about the Japanese/Chinese animosity, for those of British ancestry, the original phrase for this site also comes from the British attitude in Shanghai, 'No Dogs or Chinese' signs were in the British quarter of town to the same disgusting effect as Bruce Lee demonstrated in the film. For more, see the history of that great city: http://books.google.com/books?id=A81vvsDERVQC&pg=PA104&dq=no+dogs+ora+chinese&hl=en&ei=JOboTa_5CuPX0QHT9LS1AQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CEIQ6AEwBA
    It is all about perspective, I guess :) !
    But this does not diminish in anyway the goals of this blog, which are very honourable and admirable.

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  5. "Repeal the racist bill 101, give us back our equal rights or shut up."

    Do you know the song "Dreamer" originally performed by Arrowsmith?A really popular amerindian band in the 80's.

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  6. Martin Luther King was a dreamer too, did not stop him.

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  7. "Its Aerosmith and American. ESL fool, ESL"

    Are you a newcomer on this blog?It's a running gag dude.See latest Mr.Suga posts.

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  8. Martin Luther King...Martin Luther King,

    Ha oui l'homme qui fût le défenseur des droits et le porte-paroles de la minorité Afro- américaine opprimée et dégradée au niveau de la bête,par les ANGLO-américains pendant plus d'un siècle?Celui-la?

    Oui!,oui ça me revient,effectivement un homme qui mérite notre respect et qui nous rappelle un autre homme aussi respectable,un certain Nelson Mandela.

    C'est vraiment une sale manie chez les anglos de vouloir dominer "ses minorités"

    Autre baliverne Shebbeare?

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  9. @Anonanus le rapide XD!!!

    Comment vont vos cours de Français,FLS le cutivé?

    Hahahahahahah!....(a break).....Hahahahahaha!

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  10. @ Editor

    This premise of not 'rocking the boat' is what leads, in the most extreme case, to dangerous totalitarian regimes, the likes this world has seen too often.
    I'm not suggesting that Quebec is on it's way to such a destination, not at all. But dissenting voices is what keeps governments on its toes and luckily there are plenty of dissenting voices in Quebec, both English and French.


    "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism."---Howard Zinn

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  11. "Let me give you a word of the philosophy of reform. The whole history of the progress of human liberty shows that all concessions yet made to her august claims, have been born of earnest struggle. The conflict has been exciting, agitating, all-absorbing, and for the time being, putting all other tumults to silence. It must do this or it does nothing. If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favour freedom and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightening. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters.

    This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress...Men may not get all they pay for in this world; but they must certainly pay for all they get. If we ever get free from the oppressions and wrongs heaped upon us, we must pay for their removal. We must do this by labour, by suffering, by sacrifice, and if needs be, by our lives and the lives of others."

    — Frederick Douglass

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  12. To Edward J. Cunninghan @5:38

    Thank for that inspiring quote. I must admit sheepishly that I never heard it before. As we are constantly reminded by commenters on this blog, French is a beautiful language (which it is.)
    But the English words you quoted are highly uplifting and remind me why our language is the most important in the world.
    I'm sure readers appreciated your effort as well!

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  13. @Editor

    I first heard a portion of that Douglass quote from Ken Burns' "The Civil War." When I searched for it on-line, I thought the full quote was more appropriate.

    The other quote by the late Howard Zinn (he passed away last year and wrote The People's History of the United States) is often misattributed to Thomas Jefferson.

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  14. Save this quote for pure-line Quebecois:

    "Mon père était un mulâtre, mon grand-père était un nègre et mon arrière grand-père un singe. Vous voyez, Monsieur: ma famille commence où la vôtre finit."

    "My father was a mulatto, my grandfather was a Negro, and my great-grandfather a monkey. You see, Sir, my family starts where yours ends."

    ---Alexandre Dumas, Pere

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  15. "Learn how to spell dummy"... Perfect comment, so right, brother, but you are talking to an Untermensch (Press 9) who cannot even conjugate the verb "répondre" at the present tense and thinks that "fussiez" is a dead tense (actually, it's used, it's very formal, it's very literal AND it's good French).
    Que le monde, le monde entier, les pierres, les arbres, les eaux, le ciel, l'air, le vers, même les morts puissent avoir pitié de vous, Press 9 !

    WESTALLOPHONE++

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  16. "(actually, it's used, it's very formal, it's very literal AND it's good French)."

    Pourriez-vous m'indiquer un exemple concret tiré d'une publication récente,westiti++ alias disckens(sic)(?:O!XD!!) ?

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  17. "Untermensch"

    Faites attention a ce que vous écrivez "WestPhalloFun" car je crois comprendre que plusieurs Juifs suivent ce blogue.Je crois aussi que ce terme d'origine allemande pourrait s'avérer choquant pour certains.

    Alors,merci de faire une petite recherche avant d'écrire des mots dont la teneur symbolique vous échappe.A moins que vous le fassiez délibérement.

    Voir: Nazi racial ideology

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  18. "WestPhalloFun"--> manque total de classe. Rien de neuf de la part d'un Untermensch comme vous.

    "plusieurs Juifs suivent ce blogue"--> Cesser de faire le faux sauveur de la liberté , fraternité e du respect envers les autres. Untermensch est seulement pour vous, pas pour nos frères juifs.

    "ce terme d'origine allemande" --> ce terme est allemand (reveillez-vous !!) et, comme font tous les seppies, vous utilisez les informations hors d'un contexte précis, en leur donnant une fasse signification ou en les utilisant pour accuser les autres.

    "merci de faire une petite recherche avant d'écrire des mots dont la teneur symbolique vous échappe"--> pas besoin de chercher ce que je connais déjà très très bien. Ce que ne m'échappe pas est la teneur réelle de votre immense stupidé comme si Dieu eût oublié de remplir votre tête avec un cerveau. Même Dieu fait des fautes, mais dans votre cas il a vraiment exagéré...

    WESTALLOPHONE++

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  19. "immense stupidé" --> stupiDIté...désolé pour la faute, mais pas pour l'immense...

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  20. "...pas pour nos frères juifs..."

    Du calme westy,vous me semblez fort agité,tout a coup.

    Mais qui êtes-vous donc"WestPhalloFun"?
    Vos origines ainsi que vos allégeances me semblent fort nébuleuses contrairement aux miennent.

    Moi: Homme blanc,39 ans,Québécois pure laine,seppie un peu gauchiste mais pas trop,formation universitaire,ouevrant dans le domaine des médias,...Je m'arrête ici.

    Et vous : Westallophone ++ (que veux dire le ++)

    Seriez-vous terrorisé par la crainte d'être reconnu et maltraité par les indigènes Québécois?Un simple reflexe de sans-papier de se cacher au fond d'un container,peut-être?

    Effectivement,vous m'apparaissez très louche.

    "...Dieu eût oublié de remplir votre tête avec un cerveau..."

    Désolé pour celle-la mais je ne suis pas créationniste.Ho que non!

    Serait-il possible que votre Dieu ait commis une grossière erreur en vous affligeant de deux cerveaux et qu'il ait oublié de vous munir de couilles,faisant de vous un eunuque bicéphale?

    Qu'est-ce qu'on s'ammuse sur ce "blague"!

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  21. "...ce terme est allemand..."

    Mais utilisé a tort par un...Par un..."westallophone" :(

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  22. @ Press 9:

    "Seriez-vous terrorisé par la crainte d'être reconnu et maltraité par les indigènes Québécois?"

    Stop referring to the Quebecois as an indigenous people. This is an outright lie. You must be hoping that if you repeat the same lie often enough, it will eventually become accepted as the truth.

    The real indigenous people of Quebec are the First Nations Indians and the Inuit, not the French colonialists who invaded the region 400 years ago.

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  23. "...This is an outright lie..."

    Une chose est certaine,c'est que nous étions ici bien avant les anglouilles.Les inuits ne sont pas plus indigènes que nous car ils viennent d'Asie et ont transités par le détroit de béring.

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  24. @anon 11:40

    Did you do another overdose on Poutine? Your comparing your 400 years of known arrival to the natives thousands of years of arrival. Which is still estimated. This is why anything the Quebecois purlainists justify for their bill 101 type "french protection" can't be take seriously. Majority of it is just made up.

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  25. @ Anonymous June 4, 2011 11:40pm

    Following your (lack of) logic, if Québec-ers are as indigenous people as the Innuits and First Nations, then the anglos are as indigenous people as Québecers, which makes them also as indigenous as the Innuits and First Nations. Makes sense?

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  26. @ Anonymous aka Press 9:

    "Une chose est certaine,c'est que nous étions ici bien avant les anglouilles.Les inuits ne sont pas plus indigènes que nous car ils viennent d'Asie et ont transités par le détroit de béring."

    The French colonists were only in Quebec for 150 years before the English kicked their asses on the Plains of Abraham. One hundred and fifty years is not a long time in the grand scheme of things. It is only equivalent to a few generations.

    The Inuit came from Asia, but they were the first people to inhabit the arctic regions of Quebec. They have been there for over a thousand years. That makes them the indigenous people, not the French. A hundred years ago their territory wasn't even part of Quebec. Your dishonesty is amazing.

    By most accounts, the First Nations people also came over from Asia, but they have been living in Quebec for thousands of years - perhaps over ten thousand years. They are called the "FIRST" nations for a very valid reason.

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  27. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  28. "The French colonists were only in Quebec for 150 years before the English kicked their asses on the Plains of Abraham. One hundred and fifty years is not a long time in the grand scheme of things. It is only equivalent to a few generations."

    Well, first french explorers who established the contacts arrived in 1534. Quebec as a permanent establishment with a governor in 1608. It compares with Jamestown.

    For the ass-kicking, a full army against a score of unlucky French you called this the greatest victory of the British Empire. It wouldn't count if the son of a Scot (Ramezay/Ramsey) didn't call back the retiring british expedition to say he surrenders the City.

    By the next year, the remains of Vaudreuil's Army (mostly Canadians) kicked back asses to the Fraser's 46th Highlanders Regiment on the same very plains.
    Battle of the Mills : the Frenchmen were unstoppable.

    And yes, Scots like being kicked in the asses. Many of the survivors were forced to spouse french-canadian widows and their names stayed in the Quebec area and in in the Saguenay (Harvey, Blackburn, Mackenzie, Fraser)

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