Refugees and Racialization
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In exploring the evolution of Canadian public opinion toward the arrival of the Ugandan Asians, it’s important to note the racialized nature of immigration policies at the time. Initially, public opinion was largely resistant to their entry, driven by prejudices rooted in Canada’s history of white supremacy. Over time, however, this sentiment shifted as humanitarian concerns and international political pressures, like Canada's commitment to the Commonwealth and its role during the Cold War, pushed for a policy change (Muhammedi, p. 23).
This shift in Canadian attitudes towards Ugandan Asians echoes the experiences of Iranians in the United States, as discussed in Maghbouleh’s article. While Maghbouleh’s work focuses on the racialization of Iranians and their shifting classification under U.S. law, it reveals a similar transformation in public perception. Even before Iranians arrived in large numbers, they were seen as racially ambiguous, shifting between classifications of “white” and “non-white” depending on geopolitical contexts (Maghbouleh, p. 45). Major events, such as the Iranian Revolution and the subsequent hostage crisis, influenced public opinion, much like how the Ugandan Asians’ expulsion by Idi Amin and the Canadian government’s reaction were shaped by larger political factors (Maghbouleh, p. 51).
In both cases, racialization was a key factor in shaping how these groups were perceived. However, just as Canada eventually moved toward accepting the Ugandan Asians, public perception in the U.S. shifted over time albeit through complicated layers of geopolitical events, legal classifications, and racialized media portrayals. What this comparison shows is that racialization and public opinion are not static; they evolve in response to larger political forces, revealing the fluid nature of racial identity and public acceptance in the face of immigration and global events.