04.01.2015 08:04 AM

2015, not 1815: this is truly shocking, and it happened in Canada

noose-windsor

Quote:

WINDSOR, Ont. — A black man found a noose on his truck and another near his work station at an auto plant that is being retooled in this southwestern Ontario city.

The victim, in his late 40s, was shaken but declined to speak about the incidents, officials said Monday. Police are investigating.

The man, who is from Windsor, is among hundreds of workers involved in a $2-billion retooling project at a Fiat Chrysler minivan assembly plant. Auto production has been shut down during the revamping.

The Post has extensively covered this incident – this hate crime – as well as CBC and the Windsor Star. It has also received significant coverage in the U.S., on Fox, USA Today, the Detroit Free Press, and so on. It deserves more attention in Canada than it is getting.

It’s 2015, not 1815: this kind of despicable, cowardly act of hate needs to be investigated and prosecuted (once again showing why it was a mistake to kill section 13 of the Human Rights Act).

I can’t imagine how this man felt when he came to work and saw that noose. And I can’t believe this has happened in Canada in 2015.

22 Comments

  1. Bill says:

    Given the rhetoric on niqabs, from the highest levels of government no less, I can.

    • Dennis says:

      Absolutely; when “us” & “them” politics is the norm, it’s a relatively small step to start lashing out at other forms of “them” (and assuming such acts are acceptable).

      • Bill says:

        When the PQ played with fire last year here with the whole Charter of Values bullshit, it was obviously a political ploy to motivate its base in the hinterlands who have never seen a muslim, except in True Lies or on cable.

        But soon enough, the lowest common denominator, the “us vs them” as you say, was popping up often enough.

        http://www.mtlblog.com/2013/09/montreal-man-yells-at-muslim-woman-on-the-stm-bus-for-wearing-headscarf/

        So, again, I’m not surprised that this crap happens. When the head preaches division, the body is soon to follow.

      • Africon says:

        The position of SH on the Niqab only references whether or not to wear one at the citizenship court.
        Personally, I’m not real happy about sharing the road with a niqab wearing driver let alone a burka wearing driver.

        Harper is nothing like as reactionary as those European countries that have outright ban the Niqab – France, Belgium, Italy and Switzerland. It may surprise you that even some Muslim countries like Azerbaijan, Tunisia and Turkey have similar bans.

        Heck even the European Court of Human Rights recently ruled in favor of France’s law banning full face veiling in public.

        Next time are watching QP in the HOC ever notice the Sikh dude sitting behind that nasty Harper – how does this make any sense in your worldview?

    • Just In Troo D'Oh!! says:

      Blaming the Conservative govt for the actions of an idiot? It’s a hateful act by an individual, maybe even a left leaning voter. Who knows?

      • Ted H says:

        Not necessarily blaming the government but it seems from the news that some Conservative politicians are much more likely to play the “us versus them card” for purely political reasons and that gives some individuals a pass for this kind of action. Remember the Tutsis and Hutus lived peacefully together in Rwanda for many years until they were deliberately stirred up by politicians and their radio mouthpieces.

        • Howard Moon says:

          Uh Im pretty sure our local historian Al said Rwanda was caused by a debate society full of elites in a tower

      • Michael Bluth says:

        Thanks for that Just In.

        Thankfully no one is publicly trying to make that link. Only online yahoos.

        Such an ignorant act.

  2. Lynn says:

    Sadly, this is still going on in good old Nova Scotia too. I am an CFA (come from away, yes that is the term used ….most pejoratively) and after more than 20 years I still shake my head at the mentality of far too many people in this region. It is sad, it is appalling, it is anti-human…and it happens here far too often, yes in Canada, yes in NS, and yes in 2015 or 2013. Check out some of the NS HR cases– it may be an eye opener. Link to Leon’s HR story — lynching seems to be a theme amongst the hate mongers.

    http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/black-statue-allegedly-lynched-in-effigy-at-leon-s-store-1.1323962

  3. Just In Troo D'Oh!! says:

    Wonder if this would have been the lead story on CBC National if it had happened in Alberta instead of open minded Ontario…just sayin’.

    • DonW says:

      When it comes to bigotry, all our provinces and territories are equally cursed. First Nations? Inuks? Each province/territory has its skeletons to hide….

    • Africon says:

      Generalizations about any group of people and where they live is the first step towards becoming a bigot as it establishes a “them” and “us”
      construct – just saying.

      Take a look in the mirror.

  4. Paul Brennan says:

    Beyond Sickening…

  5. James Smith says:

    You’ve done a better job on this story than the press in general. All I knew from the news yesterday was: “a noose was found at a car plant”. No context no detail no pictures, shameful.

    But this is the sad state of CDN jurnos. No time or money to cover anything, at least the CBC should be able to be there – another story.

    A further example is to contrast the German Wings Crash & the Crash Landing in Halifax. I know there is a scale difference, but Halifax is a National story people were lucky no one died. We saw no interviews with experts, little in the way of on-site-at-the-time reporting, little in the way of human interest.

    Both the Crash in Halifax & this disgusting story point to why we need a robust CBC news organization because Bell, Rogers & Quebecor don’t have the inclination to be in the News biz; they’re in the so called content delivery business.

  6. King Prick says:

    It would be awful if television and film weren’t constantly trying to make racism funny. Black comedians do it by catering to stereo types and making off putting jokes about slavery and lynching and police violence, and doing it while trying to appeal to mainstream, white audiences.

    Look, I’m not blaming black comics or black entertainers or their followers but the truth is, the jokes they make about the horrors of blacks treatment by American whites merely diminishes the severity of the tragedy and offers license to boneheads at car plants to do shit like this.

    As an aside I would also like to offer this: It’s entirely possible that this insult with the noose was perpetrated by an afrocanadian. Just because it’s an insult against a black man doesn’t mean it was done by a white one. Racism plays two ways. Funny how in the absence of evidence, we all likely figured it was a white guy that did it.

    Sad on all counts.

  7. Alberta Sux says:

    This is what happens when Albertans run the country.

  8. Chris Molisanti says:

    Very high probability that this is a hoax.

  9. e.a.f. says:

    oh I can believe it happened in Canada. This is a country which doesn’t care what happens to First Nation’s women. This is a country in which a judge told a woman she could not receive her day in court because she was wearing a hijab and the federal government objects to a woman wearing a niquab. what happened to this man is disgusting. Who ever did this ought to be fired. It does not surprise me though in the slightest.

    You should hear what some people have to say about First Nations people in this country.

  10. kenton says:

    Yeah, this really does show “why it was a mistake to kill section 13 of the Human Rights Act”, we could have had this be a make work project for dozens of highly paid bureaucrats for months, maybe years, dragging this out. In the end, even if they didn’t tar and feather someone for this, I’m sure they would have considered this a “teachable moment”.
    And don’t worry, I’m sure like many of these cases where it turns out to be nothing, it will still be used as an example of a hate crime for years to come once the facts are forgotten and only the initial overreaction and fear remain.

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