Hamilton organizations receive racist phone calls following clash between police and housing advocates

Warning: This story contains details and audio that could be triggering for readers.

You know why white people don't like you? Because you're so entitled in a country that's not yours."

If you're a criminal, you're a f---ing criminal. And the ones that do commit crimes should be sent back to their country."

Maybe you should see the white side of things."

These are just some of the comments left on Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion's (HCCI) voicemail system after a public call on Wednesday for charges to be dropped against Black youth protesting the removal of tent encampments in J.C. Beemer Park last week.

Kojo Damptey, the interim executive director of HCCI, said other organizations also received similar calls. That includes the Afro Canadian Caribbean Association of Hamilton, which declined to comment on a call their organization received but stressed the importance of highlighting the issue.

Black community leaders in Hamilton say these calls can not be treated as an isolated incident. Rather, they point to greater faults and systemic racism in the city.

HCCI and other organizations spoke out earlier this week about an excessive use of force" used to remove affordable housing advocates from the encampment site, as well as an instance where they say a police officer put his knee on an advocate's neck.

That's the same tactic that was used to murder George Floyd," Damptey said.

Police previously told The Spectator it was a shoulder pin," and the officer was attempting to gain control and execute an arrest in a dynamic situation."

HCCI also called for the removal of all charges against half a dozen Black youth and a judicial review or inquiry into the actions of police officers," Damptey said.

But any time HCCI publicly mentions systemic racism we get some of these calls" he said, which points to a larger issue of racism in the city.

HCCI posted the audio clip of the voicemail on Twitter to highlight that (the caller) said what people think every day," which challenges the notion many Canadians have that the country is nice," Damptey said.

This idea of niceness allows for violence to take place," he added.

He also criticized local, provincial and national politicians for not drawing enough attention to the arrests made, and the manner in which folks were arrested.

Lyndon George, the executive director of Hamilton's Anti-Racism Resource Centre, said the comments made by the caller speak to the root of the racism that these organizations encounter when doing their work."

While the call to HCCI was made by one individual person, these notions are held by other community members, too, he said, who may hold positions of power in the community or within organizations.

George declined to comment on the number of incidents similar to this and said a report is underway.

In the midst of this is the affordable housing crisis in the city.

The affordable housing crisis didn't happen overnight," he said. We need to work urgently" to provide funding and create a strategic, long-term vision for addressing" it.

One of the ways community members are addressing it is through the use of activism, he said. They're quite literally using their bodies to call attention (to the crisis)."

Going forward, the tangible solutions to the crisis must include Black housing advocates who have experienced precarious housing or homelessness, he said, and the community must recognize the intersectionality of race in these issues and how they play out."

Alessia Passafiume is a reporter at The Spectator. apassafiume@thespec.com