Hamilton mayoral candidates come together to condemn ‘disturbing’ misogynist attacks

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Published October 18, 2022 at 9:06 pm

All of Hamilton’s major mayoral candidates have come out in support of one of their competitors after she came forward to report misogynist vandalism on her campaign signage.

Election front-runner Andrea Horwath, formerly provincial NDP leader, announced on October 18 that she and her team had to report the vandalism to the Hamilton Police Service earlier this week.

She said, “The misogynistic and violent imagery that was used is so disturbing that I’m not able to share the images on social media.”

“It is unacceptable that this kind of hate persists,” she continued noting that Black, Indigenous and LGBT candidates are far more likely to suffer abuse, “We cannot tolerate this trend. Community leaders in Hamilton must call out hate when they see it. Hamilton can be better than this. We all have a responsibility to stand together.”

Horwath’s rivals evidently agreed. First Bob Bratina, formerly Hamilton mayor from 2010 to 2014, said, “I’m beyond disappointed to hear about this. Misogyny and violence have no place in Hamilton. All of us must stand up and speak out against this.”

Next Keanin Loomis, former CEO of the Hamilton board of trade and Horwath’s closest rival, next came out to say “It’s times like this where we must put politics aside and stand together to condemn these acts of hate, violence and disrespect.”

“It’s completely unacceptable and disappointing to see this happen in our city and our democracy. No one deserves it. Not Kojo. Not Andrea. Not anyone,” he continued.

This is hardly the first time Hamilton has had to grapple with hate throughout this municipal election. Early in the campaign neo-Nazi Paul Fromm, a noted white supremacist with connections to numerous far-right groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, entered the race. This is Fromm’s second run in Hamilton after unsuccessful campaigns in Calgary and his native Mississauga.

More recently Kojo “Easy” Damptey, a candidate for Ward 14 who is Black, had one of his signs defaced with a white supremacist poster. Damptey was informed by supporters of a “White Lives Matter” sticker slapped over his face on the poster.

The White Lives Matter poster linked to a Telegram page which describes this organization as an “initiative that furthers the interests of White Children through real-life action.”

The evocation of “white children” is common among white supremacist, neo-Nazi, alt-right and skinhead movements due infamous white supremacist slogan, the Fourteen Words, which concludes with the phrase, “secure…a future for white children.”

This slogan was coined by David Lane, member of the supremacist groups The Order and the Klu Klux Klan, before a 190-year prison sentence for violating the rights of murdered Jewish talk show host Alan Berg in 1984. It has since become a rallying cry for white supremacists.

Additionally Catharine Kronas, a “stop woke” school board candidate, has promoted the so-called “benefits of colonialism” and the belief white people are the real victims of racism.

Incidents of hate across the board have been on a steep rise in Hamilton with local police reporting a 35 per cent jump in reported hate crime last year. Most recently these include;

While Hamilton police are investigating a rash of hate instances across the city, they too are under investigation for suspected hate. An Indigenous car theft suspect, Patrick Tomchuk, was brutally beaten during and arrest in May. Secondly, this very month, Hamilton officers tasered Marcus Charles, a Black man experiencing a seizure at work

 

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