St. Catharines Harriet Tubman public school hit with racist and homophobic graffiti

On Sunday morning a community member contacted Robin McPherson and Karrie Porter, St. Catharines city councillors, to tell them about a local public school that had been vandalized. 

The two headed to the Harriet Tubman Public School site to see the scope of the defacement and McPherson said it left her feeling sick to her stomach and heartbroken.

"Sometimes it's hard to not start to visualize what's going on when you don't actually see it," McPherson said.

"When we got there we discovered that the entire school – all four walls, the sign out front and the Harriet Tubman statue that's there – had been vandalized and spray painted with racial slurs, homophobic slurs and misogynistic slurs."

McPherson describes what she saw as "gut-wrenching."

Tubman escaped slavery and led dozens of others to freedom through the secret network of safe houses and contacts known as the Underground Railroad. She lived in St. Catharines between 1851 and 1861 then, eventually, returned to the U.S. and joined the Union Army for the American Civil War, where she was the first woman to lead an armed assault.

10 DSBN staff members were on site to help clean up after community members notified the board just after 10 a.m. on Sunday, Kim Sweeney, senior manager of communications for the DSBN, said.

"They were cleaning the sign, they were cleaning the bus. Where they couldn't wash something off, they painted over the words," McPherson said.

Sweeney said police came to the school to investigate the vandalism, and document it with photos as part of that. 

"Although our process is to cover up graffiti as quickly as possible, in the case of hate messaging, we immediately call the police first so they can begin their investigation," she said.

The vandals are 'creating social justice warriors,' Tubman Tour guide says

The Niagara Regional Police's Equity Diversity and Inclusion Unit are aware and reviewing the incident to determine next steps, Stephanie Sabourin, police spokesperson, told CBC.

"After police are satisfied they have gotten the documentation they need, our facilities staff begin the process of covering the graffiti," Sweeney said.

When speaking with the school principal and custodial staff who responded on site, McPherson said they told her they've dealt with graffiti before, but not this kind of hatred and not this kind of violation.

It was sad to see this happen to kids, said Rochelle Bush, proprietor and primary guide of Tubman Tours Canada.

"It's very disheartening that any individual or individuals would target an elementary middle school that's predominantly white, with a predominantly white teaching staff, and do this," Bush said, "it just boggles the mind."

"All because they don't like a Black woman, Harriet Tubman, and because they're anti-gay – I don't get that."

The Harriet Tubman statue was vandalized at the Salem Chapel British Methodist Episcopal Church last year, where Bush is a trustee and its resident historian, and there was also vandalism of Tubman's statue in Maryland in July 2021.

Despite the other vandalism occurrences of tributes to Tubman, Bush said she never thought that anybody would vandalize the statue at the public school. 

"The church is one thing because we're predominantly Black, but to vandalize it at a public school where folks are predominantly white, that's shocking," Bush said.

"What they fail to realize is all they're doing is creating social justice warriors," Bush said.

"All they're doing is opening these children's minds and making them think as to why they're being opposed for attending a school that's named after a Black woman or for making gender decisions."

The school has a lot of community support, director of education says

DSBN Director of Education, Warren Hoshizaki, said that the board will continue to speak out against these acts as this type of racism, homophobia, discrimination and hate will not be tolerate in the board's schools or communities.

"It's very, very disappointing that something like this would happen," Hoshizaki said.

Harriet Tubman Public School has been a really well-supported school, by the community, by neighbours and by regional council since it opened in 2015, he said.

"I think just having a school with that name and with that history, I don't think there is a way that you can avoid understanding each other and a commitment to inclusion in our system – and for sure that school and school community," he said.

The Niagara Region Anti-Racism Association (NRARA) released a statement on Monday that condemns the "flagrant vandalism" of the school.

"Those who perpetrated these attacks need to hear our region ringing with condemnation so that it stays in the minds of anyone who is encouraged by this vandalism to escalate to more violence," a statement from the NRARA released Monday said.

Hoshizaki said that the DSBN equity team will work to help provide resources at the school for staff and students following the events this weekend.

"Those teachers there are pretty strong. So they know how to handle this," Bush said. 

"For the most part, they know the school that they're teaching in and they know the individual," she said, speaking about the school's namesake.

"They know who she is and they understand what she stood for – and they're like minded as well."

Bush said she is confident that the educators and staff at the school will continue their good work in promoting a narrative that reflects Tubman's values. 

"They wouldn't be there and they wouldn't be sharing her narrative with all these children, if they disagreed with it, or if they opposed her viewpoint – they're humanitarians over there," Bush said.

The outpouring of community support that reflects shared values of anti-racist, inclusive education in the DSBN system helps to emphasize the importance of this type of education, Hoshizaki said.

"If we can learn, and our students can learn, how to treat each other with respect and dignity, I think this is an important part of our system," Hoshizaki said.

"If there can be something nice that comes from something awful, it was really wonderful to see the community response," Sweeney said

School staff, DSBN staff, neighbours and community members reached out to offer support for the public school and the board after reports of the vandalism circulated.

"We did get some really kind messages of people reaching out It was it just shows you how that school is really a meaningful member of the community," Sweeney said.