Taxi Racism: Alive & Well in Vancouver

An interesting little event just occurred. A young man, originally from Somalia, just came by to pick up his computer. He's in Grade 12 in a Burnaby high school, getting great marks, and looking forward to a Computer Science education at university.

But when I called Yellow Cab to drive him back home with his new computer, the taxi driver did a double-take when he saw who was getting in his car. The driver asked me, "Is he a good guy?" You & I both know what that's code for.

Ironically, the driver's skin colour was only a few shades lighter than the student's.

I've never driven a cab in this city so I don't know what the drivers face but I would have hoped that such events no longer occurred in 2007. This was a vivid wake-up call for me about things I never have to worry about.