Beaten up, called the N-word at 14, award-winning P.E.I. musician tries to find the good
CBC
Island musician Scott Parsons was 14 when he learned what racism was.
It was in the early 1970s, and he was walking down a Charlottetown street with a friend when they saw two bigger guys ahead.
"Get off our street," one of them said, calling Parsons the N-word.
Parsons and his friend looked around — but there was no one else.
Then the guys beat them up. Parsons returned home bleeding. Horrified, his parents called the police and the two guys got off with a warning.
"Nothing really happened back then," Parsons said. "There's a few other times where I've had to deal with that sort of racism on P.E.I."
One incident that sticks with him was at school, when a teacher told the class — seemingly out of nowhere — that "nobody should go out and date anybody who wasn't from their own race."
Parsons turned to a classmate, the only other student of colour in the class. They knew what the teacher meant.
The next day, Parson's father — a decorated Second World War veteran — spoke with the principal and the teacher.
"That teacher never bothered me ever again. Never. Sometimes I would see him looking at me with hatred," Parsons said.
But Parsons said he also met many wonderful Islanders growing up on P.E.I.
A career that spans nearly five decades — having received numerous awards from Music P.E.I. and the East Coast Music Association — started when Parsons was first encouraged to play music by a Catholic nun teaching at his elementary school.
In junior high and high school, he was supported by music teachers, including the late P.E.I. music legend Gene MacLellan.
When Parsons found a classical Goya guitar he liked on sale for $150, MacLellan loaned him the money.