GUELPH – Early Wednesday afternoon someone broke into the Guelph Black Heritage Society (GBHS) Heritage Hall.
The break-in follows years of threatening and hateful messages that have been increasing in frequency and intensity in recent months, GBHS officials say.
“I’m tired. I’m discouraged. I’m disappointed,” said GBHS president Denise Francis.
“But we are not scared or frightened. This is not going to stop us from continuing to do the work … that we have been doing for the last decade.”
The pattern
Francis and Kween, GBHS executive director, both said people keep saying they are shocked this would happen in Guelph, or even Canada, but GBHS officials say the incidents are not surprising.
“This isn’t new,” Kween said.
And if people “keep saying ‘oh, I didn’t think this was our Guelph,’ then we are not going to fix anything.”
Francis said “since the organization has been in place we’ve sustained so many different things – cut phone lines, stolen property, damage to the property, feces left at the door.”
It’s been constant, Francis added, and the issue has been escalating in recent months.
“We always get a certain uptick in commentary during Black Heritage Month,” she said, noting the society saw “an escalation and increase in cyberbullying,” hate mail, and threats during February – both online and in letters mailed to Heritage Hall.
GBHS officials were hopeful harassment would decrease once Black Heritage Month was over, but instead it has worsened.
Kween cares deeply about the Heritage Hall and uses the space regularly, noting “our ancestors created this safe space for us.”
It’s discouraging “that people have so much time to hate on a Black community or to hate on the people in this community who have created it since its roots, since before we knew it as Guelph,” Kween said.
“People are trying to push us out and scare us away, but it’s not going to happen.”
And “it’s not just us,” added Francis, who has been talking with other community members receiving similar messages.
Kween said she is “really frustrated and angry.”
Times like this make her feel like all the work of GBHS, Black Lives Matter, and other organizations to educate people about anti-racism “made zero difference in the last two and a half years.”
However, she added “with active change and love also comes a lot of hate.”
These are “really unprecedented times around hate in general – what people look like, who people love,” she added, with the hate not only impacting Black people, but Indigenous and 2SLGBTQIA+ people too.
“We can’t back down,” Kween said. “We need to keep moving forward” and “keep that hope alive.
“God works hard, but the devil works overtime.”
The response
Since the break-in at Heritage Hall, Francis said GBHS has been receiving many positive “emails and phone calls from community members, allies, and neighbours offering their support and assistance,” which really helps “to boost our spirits.”
Kween would like to see the community go beyond asking how to help and “come up with some action plans.
“It can’t just be us doing the work and it can’t be more work put on us,” she noted.
The society needs “more people to help out at the organization – not just at this time.”
GBHS has upgraded the security system at Heritage Hall and officials are “looking to see what possibly more could be added,” such as a possible community patrol.
The night after the break-in, officials completed a de-escalation training session, in an effort “to arm our community with the skills,” needed to handle further incidents, Francis said.
In the coming weeks they will be working on strategies to address the issue, including meeting with other community service organizations who’ve offered support.
No one was present at the Heritage Hall when the security system alerted officials to the break-in after lunch on Wednesday afternoon.
Officials monitored the situation with security cameras while someone went to check out the building, but by that time the person who broke in had fled.
In the past, GBHS has called Guelph Police Services to request support, but this time they opted not to, noting they didn’t feel police did anything to help previously.
“In our community, to generalize, the trust with the police services is not always there,” Francis said.
“The force does not make up the representation of our community when it comes to diversity.”
She also shared hesitancy to discuss distrust for policing, because expressing that distrust has led to increased harassment in the past.
Work continues
Francis said the break-in, threats and harassment have caused her stress and made her “more vigilant and aware of her surroundings,” but she is not reconsidering her work.
“We will continue to do the work that we have been doing,” Francis said, noting the society has “exciting things planned for the coming months,” including the launch of its seniors social program, a games afternoon, summer tours of Heritage Hall, augmented reality visits, and a Juneteenth concert.
“This is what we really enjoy, doing these programs,” Francis added.
“We are a cultural-based organization that promotes Black history and Black education and provides a resource for our community. We understand not everybody will like the work that we do, or like us, but that does not give them the right to, for lack of a better word, terrorize us.
“If you don’t like what we are doing, leave us alone.”
And if you do like what the society is doing, get involved – and not just in the aftermath of bad news, Kween requests.
“So many dope things happen at the Guelph Black Heritage Society … Spread our message – not just the message of the break-in, but of all the wonderful things we are doing.”
For more information about GBHS and Heritage Hall visit guelphblackheritage.ca.
