We can fight the racists by taking away their voice

Jul 4, 2018 | 4:57 AM

KAMLOOPS— STORIES ABOUT THE DISCOVERY of racist anti-indigenous graffiti spray-painted on a sign at Lac du Bois have been in local media for the past few days.

Then came the obscenity-laced graffiti on a wall at NorKam senior secondary.

It’s ignorant, ugly stuff but it’s not new. Two years ago, Arthur Stevenson elementary was hit with racist graffiti, as were two places in the downtown core. It was also two years ago when the original Kamloops cenotaph was desecrated with spray-painted slogans.

Five years ago, a Muslim student was verbally abused in a Kamloops super market.

Just last year, after the horrible shooting at a Quebec city mosque, Coun. Arjun Singh called for support of the Muslim community. He got some nasty public feedback for supposedly grandstanding but I thought it was gutsy.

Singh put a sign on his council-meeting desk that says, “Proud son of immigrants!” It remains there today.

Racist rants regularly show up in graffiti around town so I doubt these latest incidents indicate a rising tide of racist sentiment. I certainly hope not.

But we do need to worry about the twisted mindset of those who carry out this repulsive activity.

Calls have gone out for more “education” against racism. One wonders if the mentality of the bigots can in any way be influenced by education but maybe it can be accomplished over the generations. We’ve obviously failed somewhere along the line during the last 150 years or so.

But there is something we can do right now. We can clean up racist graffiti quickly, because the longer it’s allowed to stand, the more credibility it gets and the more chance of being repeated.

And we can refuse to publish, or at least quickly remove, racist comments on social media. Thirdly, we can be each other’s watchdogs. We can call to account anyone — be it friends, family or strangers — we hear utter a hint of racism in a remark or a joke.

In other words, we can take away the racists’ voice.

I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.