Hamilton police say they’re investigating an incident involving a white supremacist sticker placed on top of an advertisement for a Black city council candidate.
Police say the Hate Crime Unit is asking for information that might help identify who put the sticker over an ad for Ward 14 candidate Kojo Damptey in a bus shelter at Upper Paradise and Mohawk Roads.
In a tweet posted on Monday, an organization called the Equity Network posted photos of the bus shelter advertisement that show a sticker that says ‘white people first’ and ‘white lives matter: time to take a stand”.
Damptey took to Twitter with a video broadcast a short time later, denouncing the action.
“This speaks to some of the things that we’ve been trying to bring attention to in this city,” he said. “It’s unfortunate, and we’ll see if we can find out who did it, the individuals that did it. But again, anti-Black racism, transphobia, xenophobia, Islamophobia, these are the things that we’ve been talking about for years in this city.”
The city of Hamilton issued a series of tweets on Tuesday, acknowledging the incident and saying, “These hateful acts and messages are unacceptable and will be removed by City crews as quickly as possible.”
“We condemn racism in any/all forms and are committed to nurturing a city that is welcoming and inclusive, where the community feels safe,” said a subsequent tweet.
Lyndon George, executive director of the Hamilton Anti-Racism Resource Centre (HAARC), called the incident a “snapshot” of what is happening to Damptey and other racialized candidates who are running election campaigns.
“Kojo’s example of having to remove a sticker that is about white supremacy, literally from the face of a black man should be concerning to us all,” he told Global News.
“When white supremacist organizations go out and conduct these activities, it’s meant to sow fear, division and highlight anti-Black racism in our community, so we need to call it out.”
George said the white supremacist messaging in the sticker, which suggests white people are being ‘replaced’ by racialized community members, is the co-opting of identity politics in a way that seeks to shut down the voices of those who have historically faced oppression and marginalization.
“They’re saying, ‘No, no, no, we are the ones who are being marginalized here’, when in fact, that is not what history has shown. I think that we need to be very mindful that they’re using identity politics to target marginalized communities and to limit their ability to hold space about equity and diversity in our school systems and in our society in ways that actually bring us closer together and understanding and mutual respect.”
George is urging Hamiltonians to keep an eye out for racist or hateful messaging as the Oct. 24 election looms closer and to report any hateful rhetoric to HAARC.
Other candidates in the municipal election have spoken out in condemnation of the incident, including mayoral candidates Andrea Horwath, Bob Bratina, and Keanin Loomis.
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