No One Should Be Surprised

Take a contentious issue and promote it and you guarantee this type of response. Is Professor Walker that naive? At the same time I have to wonder at her motivation and whether she will be sponsoring a "Wear A Yamaka Day."

Racist cowards at work
April 13, 2007

A cowardly racist attack against a professor in Hamilton provides a sad reminder of the hostility that some minority groups continue to face, even in multicultural Canada.

Racist and obscene graffiti were sprayed on the office door of Muriel Walker, a McMaster University French professor, after she organized a campus "Wear a Hijab Day," meant to increase people's understanding of Islam.

Copies of inflammatory Danish editorial cartoons, deemed an offence to Muhammad, were also found Tuesday stuck to her door.

Walker, who is not Muslim, reportedly was baffled by the hateful response, but it was only the most recent in a long string of racist attacks in Canada, frequently targeting the Jewish and Muslim communities.

Unfortunately, campus security staff did not immediately report the occurrence to Hamilton police as a hate crime. That was a mistake. Once apprised of the situation, city police launched a hate crime investigation.

This was more than property damage done to someone's door. It was a crude attack meant to intimidate and silence a vulnerable community.

And that must never be minimized or brushed aside.