Racist graffiti on community mailbox highlights need for anti-racism work in N.S.

Racist graffiti discovered on a Canada Post community mailbox in Bedford, N.S., highlights that more work is needed to tackle racist beliefs, residents say.

Mohua Dasgupta stopped to pick up her mail on Wardour Street on Tuesday when she spotted a slur written on the mailbox. Under the slur were the words “go back to India.”

“I was just shocked,” Dasgupta said. “All of my fears were sort of affirmed.”

Dasgupta said she has been observing world events — particularly south of the border — and has been worried about a racist backlash in Canada.

“And so when I saw that message, I was just, it just hit me in the face,” she said. “I was just so sad.”

Dasgupta snapped a photo of the graffiti and posted it on a popular local Facebook page. She said she was heartened to see that the response was overwhelmingly positive and supportive.

Signe Finnbogason was out walking their dog on Tuesday evening when they spotted the graffiti.

“I was pretty upset by it, to be honest,” Finnbogason told the CBC’s Maritime Noon.

“I like to believe we live in a kind of more accepting community than that. And I definitely have neighbours from lots of different parts of the world, and I was pretty upset thinking about them seeing that and feeling it targeted towards them in any way.”

Finnbogason immediately returned home to try to find something to remove the graffiti, which appeared to be written using Sharpie marker. They managed to remove the words using Goo Gone.

Finnbogason said while “the physical symbol of it is gone,” the graffiti is a reminder of racist beliefs that exist and the need to counter those attitudes.

“I know there’s sort of these beliefs out there, but it was pretty shocking to see it written straight out in the open like that,” they said.

“It speaks to probably a lot of work that we need to do as a community and conversations we need to have about how we welcome people into our community and our schools and the places we live and work and make sure everybody feels like they are part of that community.”

‘We should be talking about it’

Dasgupta, who is of South Asian descent, said more conversations about racism need to take place.

“Because it’s an uncomfortable topic, you know, people just want to sort of brush it to the side and not address it head on,” she said.

“We should be talking about it because only by talking about it can we work through it.”

In a statement, Canada Post said it was made aware of the “unfortunate and unacceptable incident” late Tuesday, and an attempt was made to clean the graffiti, but it could not be removed properly at the time.

Spokesperson Phil Legault confirmed the mailbox was cleaned as of Wednesday.

He said residents should report instances of vandalism to Canada Post’s Customer Service line.

A spokesperson for the Halifax Regional Police said he was unable to find any reports about the incident.

‘Not harmless vandalism’

The Indo-Canadian Association of Nova Scotia (INCA) said in a statement the graffiti is “deeply disturbing and hurtful.”

“Incidents like this are not harmless vandalism — they are acts of visible racism that create fear, anxiety, and a sense of exclusion for individuals and families who choose to live, work, study, and contribute to our communities every day,” the statement from INCA vice-president Monica Rai Dua said.

Rai Dua said the Indian diaspora in Nova Scotia is vital to the provincial economy, filling labour shortages, growing the tax base, creating businesses and supporting essential services such as health care, education, transportation, skilled trades and hospitality.

Members of the community also enrich the province through festivals, arts, food, volunteerism and community leadership, the statement said.

Racism targeting Indians in Nova Scotia is becoming more public, Rai Dua said.

“While removing hateful graffiti is necessary, long-term solutions require education, dialogue, and stronger efforts to promote diversity, equity, inclusion and cultural understanding.”

Rai Dua called on the government to implement programs to combat stereotypes and misinformation.

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