‘We don’t tolerate racism in King’: Racist incident sparks demonstration in Schomberg

Cars adorned with anti-racism messaging drive through community after children at park called racial slur

Yorekregion.com
October 21, 2020
Laura Broadley

If there’s one thing Schomberg residents want to make clear it’s that racism doesn’t belong in their community.

Several residents of the small King Township community showed their support during an anti-racism drive-by on Oct. 15 following a racist incident when children playing at a park were called a racial slur.

“A lot of us were pretty horrified by it,” said Taylor Dutton who lives on Main Street in Schomberg.

Dutton took part in the drive-by where several cars adorned with anti-racism messaging paraded through town. A group of residents thought the best way to move forward was to do something public.

The drive-by, from the library to the park where the incident happened, was an effort to show solidarity to the family of the children who were called the racial slur, Dutton said.

The drive-by finished off with anti-racism signs posted in the park.

“Kids have a right to feel safe playing in a park,” Dutton said.

The latest incident follows another when several Indigenous Lives Matter signs along Main Street were stolen and burned on Aug. 10.

“We decided we would be just a little bit more active in the community in any way that we could at the very least, help members of our community who are racialized feel a little bit more comfortable,” Dutton said.

Dutton said racism never had a place in the world but it’s 2020 and people should know better.

“There is no part of racism that has any basis in fact and there is absolutely space in our village for anyone to feel unsafe,” she added.

King Township Mayor Steve Pellegrini also attended the drive-by and reiterated Dutton’s sentiments.

“We don’t tolerate racism in King, it’s that black and white,” he said.

Pellegrini knew he wanted to show his support when he first heard about the incident.

“I’m concerned that a lot of the rhetoric that you’re hearing in the U.S.  is causing issues across the border here. I thought we were better than that,” he said.

As the leader of council, Pellegrini said he will do his best to ensure that King residents are caring for one another.

Pellegrini said there’s a number of things the municipality has done to help curb racism: he has attended workshops on policing and race, an audit of staff found the ratio of people of colour working for the township compared to those living in King was higher and staff get diversity training.