Sulemaan Ahmed, whose grandfathers served in the Second World War, weighs in on the backlash following Don Cherry's comments.
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Don Cherry is opinionated this is his right as a 🇨🇦Canadian.Don Cherry did not use a word about race.Not one word. He said you people, he did not single out immigrants, aboriginals or scholars coming to 🇨🇦Canada. You people means, every person who came to this country after World War 1 & World War 2 we fought & won for our freedom. It’s a generalized term. My family members who immigrated from Vietnam 🇻🇳, are part of those people. My b/f family integrated into the ’90s are those people. At no time did Mr.Cherry call out a race. Do not throw that word around lightly. If you are hypersensitive about all words chosen.Do your research & not slander a 🇨🇦Canadian icon’s name. If his words offend some people then it’s his 🇨🇦Canadian right to do so .End of.
It’s really funny how he is wearing a poppy now !! Was he shamed into it ?? Don Cherry said this for a good reason. It certainly was a reflection on individuals who do not honor this countries freedom fighters !! He has said he lives in a neighborhood of individuals who are not wearing poppies !!
I listened to his comments. Yes making it about immigrants is wrong but the fact is that people in our society don’t seem to understand or particularly care about the rights and freedoms our soldiers fought so hard for. I also have a father who fought in World War II and an uncle who died. He may have said it badly but I think what he is trying to express is to remember that everything we have is because they fought and died
Very racist
Kinda ironic given such sentiments (those people, them vs us) were what allowed ww1 to become a senseless bloodbath for so long (remember the ww1 Christmas soccer match story and what the officers did to the troops after?), which sparked the need to grasp onto remembering it so it wouldnt happen again….which lead to the choosing of the poem in flanders field….which led to the symbol of the poppy….and now we are somehow back to where we started. It’s not really much to ask people to wear a poppy…most will do it if u explain why, but berating people for not doing it is counterproductive and ….ironic for the reasons outlined above, no doi.
I find it hilarious people expected his co-host, the straightman, to do something other than nodd his head….they obviously don’t watch don cherry very much, and I don’t blame him for “not catching it” in the moment….he never takes a stand against don cherry he’s not supposed to, he’s always don’s punching bag. Been like that for decades. I’ve never once seen him argue with don, not once. Whatever don says, becomes fact.
While I heartily applaud Mr. Ahmed’s obvious patriotism and that of his forefathers, there is no question that Don Cherry may be on to something. Allow me to explain. We have gone so overboard on immediately decrying any perceived marginalization of immigrants that we ignore that Mr. Ahmed and his family are the exception, and most certainly not the rule. I wouldn’t have said what Don said, and certainly not the manner in which he said it; however, his statements represent a growing concern in this country, by many of us, that Remembrance Day and all it represents has been largely dumbed down by many school teachers, activists and the anti-war rent-a-crowd. That’s, sadly, what new immigrant children take home from school, the rec center, or mall. Lest we forget, indeed.
Everyone is taking Don’s words and spinning them to suit their own grievances. Will anyone listen to what Don actually said? Probably not. Hey CTV, are you reporting the news, or trying to create it. Mr. Ahmed, this is Canada, almost all of our grandfathers served in the second world war. Mr. Maclean, you are a coward.
SportsNet should apply some sanctions against cherry and maclean. I have the choice as to I wear a poppy or not……but I give full respect to our fallen soldiers……
I stand behind Don Cherry and his comments. He feels immigrant should be more respectful for fallen soldiers that paved the way for their new gotten freedoms. Enough is enough with this Tolatarian society we are becoming.
Extremely ignorant comments by don cherry, very misinformed and divisive. There is however one group of people in this country who will not wear it, He should be concerned about the rise of hate groups in this country. There are, at minimum, 150 active far-right extremist groups across Canada according to Barbara Perry, a professor and expert on hate crime, a 45% increase, she says, from 2015 the present day. Do I have to remind don cherry, neo nazis don’t wear the poppy. This was a cheap blow below the belt hit to the immigrant community by don cherry, not far from what the rederick from hate groups use.
Donald Stewart Cherry … shares the same first name as our anti-immigrant next door neighbor. Donald and Donald.
My grandfather and my father did not fight for the motherland, England and therefore I don’t have anything to remember. I considered wearing the poppy several times in the past, but I may look ridiculous, I am brown and my father fought the Japanese and the combined onslaught of the North Koreans and the Chinese, not Germans or the Axis Power.