In her blog, Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps is calling out racism shown towards Councillor Shamarke Dubow in the wake of his Christmas trip to South Africa.
Following the trip Helps, and many others, publicly expressed disappointment in Dubow's decision to travel abroad against COVID-19 restrictions.
Helps says she now knows the words of white people in power can cause unintended consequences.
She has learned her words were seized upon by white supremacist websites and social media groups online, resulting in Councillor Dubow experiencing a surge in anti-Black hate comments in social media.
" There were some people who came to council and spoke publicly at our Feb. 11th meeting saying that the way that I had handled it, and the way council had handled the situation, may have contributed to those who were looking for something to use against Councillor Dubow in a racist way. So we can never understand other's motivations, but certainly it did cause me a moment of reflection and that's what I wrote about on my blog yesterday. "
Helps says she has realized that Dubow, and others in the Black community, may now feel unsafe due to those who feel empowered to express their hate.
Her blog declares racism against the Councillor is unacceptable, hurtful to him and to many in our community, and it must stop.
CFAX 1070 News reached out to Dubow for comment. He responded saying while he doesn't want to do a recorded interview right now he is grateful to the mayor fro calling out racism.
As for himself he adds "calling out racism comes at a personal cost" to my well-being.
Link to Mayor Helps blog: https://lisahelpsvictoria.ca/2021/02/21/black-history-month-white-privilege-and-racism-in-victoria/