Thursday, November 02, 2006
Brush with Stardom
Earlier tonight there was an emergency forum held by Radio India addressing the recent cases of domestic abuse in Surrey. It was a good forum- the accounts, and insight given by victims of domestic violence/abuse were especially touching. The hall was packed with people, and not just Punjabis- I saw a number of whites and blacks as well. I had planned to take some pictures of the speakers, but from where we were sitting I couldn't really get any good shots. I started playing around with the setting on my camera, which only made the situation worse. Here's one of the pictures I took:
That's Dilbir Kang on the right (he's a celebrity). After I took this picture, I looked up to see that Dilbir Kang (famous news reporter) had turned the camera on me! I wanted to die right then and there. He asked me what I thought of the forum, and I said something stupid. I'm pretty sure that's not a clip they can use (I really, really hope that they don't air what I said). If they had just given me a moment to collect my thoughts, I would have said something completely different.
I would have commented on what the host of the forum said. I think he was from Radio India; he stated that victims of domestic violence could call Radio India for help. I thought that was silly. Also, Sukh Dhaliwal said that his office would be available 24 hours for anyone who was a victim of domestic violence. Why on earth would these people, who as far as I know, are not trained to deal with such serious issues, offer themselves as a resource? I can't imagine a Punjabi woman showing up at Sukh Dhaliwal's office at 2am, asking him for help. Instead, why not encourage people to call 911, and report the matter to police? Perhaps one of the issues that prevents victims from calling 911 is that they aren't able to communicate in Punjabi (or whatever language they speak if it isn't English or French). Well, if that's a valid concern, then why not figure out a way to have Punjabi-speaking operators available when needed. Because there is such a large Punjabi speaking community in the Lower Mainland I would be surprised if there weren't Punjabi-speaking operators available.
The best part of the forum was seeing how many people cared. If everyone who was there talks to one or two other people about domestic violence, maybe victims won't feel shame in coming forward, and maybe someone who sees violence won't think they should 'mind their own business', but instead report it to authorities (the police, not Sukh Dhaliwal or Radio India).
That's Dilbir Kang on the right (he's a celebrity). After I took this picture, I looked up to see that Dilbir Kang (famous news reporter) had turned the camera on me! I wanted to die right then and there. He asked me what I thought of the forum, and I said something stupid. I'm pretty sure that's not a clip they can use (I really, really hope that they don't air what I said). If they had just given me a moment to collect my thoughts, I would have said something completely different.
I would have commented on what the host of the forum said. I think he was from Radio India; he stated that victims of domestic violence could call Radio India for help. I thought that was silly. Also, Sukh Dhaliwal said that his office would be available 24 hours for anyone who was a victim of domestic violence. Why on earth would these people, who as far as I know, are not trained to deal with such serious issues, offer themselves as a resource? I can't imagine a Punjabi woman showing up at Sukh Dhaliwal's office at 2am, asking him for help. Instead, why not encourage people to call 911, and report the matter to police? Perhaps one of the issues that prevents victims from calling 911 is that they aren't able to communicate in Punjabi (or whatever language they speak if it isn't English or French). Well, if that's a valid concern, then why not figure out a way to have Punjabi-speaking operators available when needed. Because there is such a large Punjabi speaking community in the Lower Mainland I would be surprised if there weren't Punjabi-speaking operators available.
The best part of the forum was seeing how many people cared. If everyone who was there talks to one or two other people about domestic violence, maybe victims won't feel shame in coming forward, and maybe someone who sees violence won't think they should 'mind their own business', but instead report it to authorities (the police, not Sukh Dhaliwal or Radio India).
