‘My burden’: What does racism look like in Hamilton?

There have been marches and rallies in Hamilton pledging support for the Black Lives Matter movement and calling for an end to systemic racism.

It's a topic of discussion across North America, borne out of experiences on the local level.

The Spectator reached out to Black members of the Hamilton community to share their encounters with racist actions or comments.

The Spectator has granted some people anonymity due to fears for their own safety and potential repercussions with those involved in the incidents.

The stories are mostly in the own words of those who spoke out; any parts italicized have been edited for clarity.

Eve Gagne-Phipps

Three weeks after my son was born via caesarean, I felt strong enough to go for a short walk. We lived a few blocks from Jackson Square, so that's where I went. It felt good to leave the house and to be on my feet again.

By the time I got to the mall, I was starting to feel some pain and my son had started crying. I quickly looked for a bench to rest up and nurse him.

As I was taking off my jacket and getting ready to pick up the baby, a white man walked up and put his head in the stroller to take a peek.

Cute baby, but .... is he yours?' he said with a grin.

At this point, I'm feeling weak, my son is screeching and I'm annoyed at this dude. Then he says Seriously, he's pretty white, did you steal him from the hospital?'

My partner is white, my children are fairer than me. Brown, purple or green, why would anyone ask that?

Why did this man assume that I had abducted a child because our skin colour was different? Would he have asked that to a white woman? Definitely not.

People feel entitled to say whatever they want to Black women no matter how inappropriate or disrespectful. I felt overwhelmed by it all; and just wanted to go home. I didn't have the energy to say anything back.

I called my partner and he came to pick us up. The feeling of having to prove to people that my children are my own hurts me deeply.

This wasn't the first time it happened, and it won't be the last.

Anonymous: a 17-year-old ticketed for jaywalking

He was walking from a friend's house to the bus terminal downtown after midnight. Police officers stopped him after he cut across empty Bay Street without using a crosswalk.

One of them pointed me out ... two of them turned around and just start following me so I know something is going to happen.

They kind of like corner me ... (saying) Do you see what you just did right there?' And I'm just like, What do you mean, walk across the street?'

It's safe, I'm not endangering anybody. I don't know. I don't understand.

The officers peppered him with questions about his name, age and where he was headed. They decided to search him, as well as his backpack.

All these comments about how they don't believe me ... They didn't believe my age, they didn't believe my name, they didn't believe where I was going, they didn't believe I was from here, nothing.

I'm just like, OK, are you guys done now, because I'm trying to get home. I was trying to catch the second-last bus to get home, because you know it was like 1 a.m.

She (the officer) actually said, Well, maybe if you weren't jaywalking you would have been home by now.'

He said the Crown prosecutor threw out the ticket when he got to court to complain about it.

But, I (actually) had a ticket on my record for jaywalking at like 1 a.m. at Copps Coliseum.

Jesse Kelly

I must have been four or five years old, that age you are when you go to daycare before school starts.

My mom had just dropped me off, and I had walked up all shy and anxious to where all the other kids were playing.

All I can remember is this other boy asked me, Why are you Black?'

I remember not knowing how to answer that, yet at the same time feeling so upset with myself and I had no idea why.

I said something like, What do you mean?'

And he replied, Well your mom is white, you're Black.'

I just remember feeling hurt and pain. I know now that was the moment that turned me from an innocent child, into a burden for the rest of my life, or at least that was and has been my feeling.

I remember not having friends because of this boy. I had one friend, she was very nice to me, but I remember she came up to me and said she didn't want to play with me anymore.

It was because of something that boy had said to her.

This is one of my earliest memories I had as a kid in daycare. Matter of fact, that's one of the only memories I have from that daycare. That boy and my burden.

Anonymous: A teen threatened a cop call to his own home

It was 2009, he was in ninth grade. He and five other friends were playing basketball at his house. They had the garage door open, they were drinking some juice and just hanging out after school.

The secretary from my school drove by my house and said What are you guys doing here? You're not supposed to be here.'

She said, This isn't a place for you to be' and I'm calling the police.'

As the secretary said the word police,' his mom happened to be pulling into the driveway.

Then we made an argument with her that it was our home and we didn't have to prove it to her that it was our home. She actually had my address on file, so I don't know where she got off assuming that she could just say it wasn't my house.

We're 14 years old. Who has the capacity of breaking into a house, but then decides because they're a kid, they're going to just play basketball?

(The secretary) was leaving work and I live right by the school. She went out of her way to be a superhero.

As his mom got out of the car, the argument continued, he said.

(My mom) then continued to argue with her, that, No. 1, she had no right to say any of it, and No. 2, it is her house. She proved it with her identification.

That's outrageous alone. She didn't even live in the neighbourhood, that's the hilarious part, like nowhere near.

He said there was never an apology given, despite the proof his mother provided.

She tried to live on like it was nothing. We never talked about it again, even when I was at school.

Leead Gittens

It was nearly two decades ago. Ancaster resident Leead Gittens and a few of his friends had gone to Guelph to visit a friend one night.

They travelled in two cars, said Gittens. He travelled in his car with two passengers who were Black. The other car had three white people in it. His white friend's car had no running tail lights at the back, explained Gittens.

So when we left at 2 o'clock in the morning, my friend was driving in front of me, he pulled out into the main road safely in front of a police officer and I was right behind him.

The police officer actually did a double-take when he passed by me. He did not notice that the car that was right in front of him had no running lights at all.

Gittens said the police officer then pulled over onto the side of the road, waited for him to pull out. Once he did, the police officer then immediately pulled Gittens over.

His excuse for pulling me over was something like You know, it's a dark road, late at night.'

Asked for his licence and registration, Gittens said he lied about not having his insurance on him to give the officer a reason to ticket him. He knew he had 24 hours to prove it and could solve the issue quickly without any further issues on the roadside.

I had just said that I didn't have insurance because it was probably the easiest thing to do. He was looking for a reason to give me a ticket.

When he got to the closest police station, Gittens said a Black officer was there and understood why he didn't provide his insurance.

Reflecting back on it, Gittens said the incident should never have happened.

Driving down a dark road late at night is not a crime.

If he was observant enough to notice three Black people in a car, he should be observant enough to notice a car with no rear running lights that he is driving behind.

He chose to pull me over.

Anonymous: Former Winston Churchill student

The 22-year-old Sir Winston Churchill graduate has joined the coalition to pull police out of schools. He said countless small interactions" made police liaison officers a source of fear rather than aid for Black students.

I remember there was the one time (I) and two white girls were late to class after lunch. I strolled in right after them ...

I was the only one kicked out of class. They walkie-talkied (the police liaison officer) to escort me to the principal's office, call my mom. It turned into a big thing. Just because I was late to health class, you know?

He said officers seemed more intent on patrolling" his Black friends than building relationships, the stated goal of the program.

I felt like we (Black students) were singled out, just for hanging out in the basement hallway. You see (the officer) strolling around, using his power, staring at us making raps in the hallway.

You felt fear. They know your last names. It's like they're patrolling us. Oh, I saw you on the weekend with your friends. Where were you going, what were you doing?' Stuff like that.

Compiled by Fallon Hewitt and Matthew Van Dongen

In early June, a group of organizers from Hamilton put the call to the city to defund the Hamilton Police Service and have funds redirected to initiatives such as food security, housing and anti-racism strategies.

Last week, Hamilton city council fielded at least 136 letters from residents voicing their support for the move, detailing the demands of organizers and some residents providing their own backstory and concerns with racism in the city.

They also received 18 letters regarding body cameras for police and another four on the suspension of the school liaison program in Hamilton's public schools.

The letters are part of a greater discussion across Canada and the United States surrounding systemic racism and deaths of Black and Indigenous people of colour such as Chantel Moore, Rodney Levi and Regis Korchinski-Paquet during police interactions.

Here are excerpts from a few of those letters:

Rachel Yantzi

We have a deeply ingrained racist history here in Canada and one of the many modern day manifestations of that history comes in the form of systematic police brutality."

Alexandra Weinberger

The false security police forces provide to white people, like me, cannot supersede the lives of Black and Indigenous folks. We will all be safer when police are defunded and those same funds are used in (the) community to support folks with mental health issues, housing insecurity, addictions issues, insufficient income, etc. This cannot wait."

Robin Hufgard

Investing money back into our community rather than the police is ultimately a better use of our finances. Helping people find work, homes, doctors, therapists, and communities will reduce crime and poverty more than buying bigger and better guns/cars for the police."

Piper Hayes

Not being racist is no longer enough, we must actively practice antiracism and to do this we have a lot of work to do ... Canada and Hamilton must come to terms with our racism and actively find ways to unlearn these dangerous ways of being."

Hali Tsui

We have all heard enough meaningless words, we need action from our elected representatives. We need you to step up and make some bold changes in the right direction. Enough is enough."

McMaster Student Union

A commitment to defunding Hamilton Police Services is a commitment to protecting systemically marginalized populations within this city. Anything else will be complicit in the violence that vulnerable communities have and continue to face."

Jessica Taveras

We must begin to take antiracist action to create actual permanent systemic change. For us white people, doing the work to learn, change and have these conversations might be uncomfortable. But discomfort is not the same as fearing for your life, which many people in the Black community face everyday when having an interaction with a police officer. We cannot turn a blind eye to this any longer."