Cambridge street art festival organizers didn't want to hide racism when they suggested painting over graffiti

People who sprayed racist graffiti on a piece of art at the Cambridge International Street Art Festival on the weekend should not 'win,' the event's manager says.

• Possible hate crime at Cambridge International Street Art Festival
• Leaving graffiti on artwork shows 'bitter reality' of racism in Canada, artist says

"Three people – myself, another person on our team and a public individual/resident of Galt, who happened to be there taking pictures – suggested to Mediah that he paint over the racist words so the perpetrator doesn't win," festival manager Brian Price said in an email to CBC News Thursday morning.

"Let me create an analogy. An arsonist has a twisted desire to see the building burn that he set ablaze. By the same token, whoever wrote this trash, wants people to see what he wrote for him to get satisfaction."

Graffiti shows 'a bitter reality'

Mediah, whose name is Evond Blake, said his piece was defaced sometime overnight Saturday to Sunday with the words "f--- you n-----." No other artwork was vandalized.

Blake said he decided to walk away from his unfinished art.

"The residents that were there at the time and who I spoke to early in the morning, said to 'get rid of it, paint over it, don't let the guy win,' but I could see in them, I could tell by the way they were saying it that they didn't want — and one of them said, 'Kids and parents are going to see this,'" he told Metro Morning host Matt Galloway on Wednesday.

"It's a bitter reality that people don't want to deal with and I think their suggesting that I paint over it would be to sort of hide it and get rid of it so the public don't have to be confronted or hit by what was written or what was done."

Blake was invited by some other artists to collaborate on another piece, which he did.

Price called police after the art was vandalized. Police have said they are investigating the graffiti on Blake's artwork as a possible hate crime.

Vandalism remained visible Sunday

Price said he, another member of their team and a local resident who was taking pictures suggested the artist paint over the racist words and hide it, "not to hide the reality that racism exists but so the perpetrator does not get his satisfaction."

Price said Blake wanted to leave it so people would see it.

"After some deliberation, we agreed with Mediah and that is why it stayed visible all day, however it became evident that some people thought it was part of the artwork for shock value. This, of course, is not the case. Someone eventually put up a hand-written note stating that the vandalism is an example of racism and a hate crime," Price said.

Read the festival organizer's full statement:

To make things very clear, I, as an individual and we, as the festival, do not tolerate racism. Our mandate as a festival, from the beginning, is to bring amazing street style art to the community to be enjoyed by everyone from all races, religions, cultures. Art transcends all. It saddens us that we are in the public eye because of this unfortunate event - racism.

About the racial 'tag' on Mediah's art ...

Three people (myself, another person on our team and a public individual/resident of Galt, (who happened to be there taking pictures) suggested to Mediah that he paint over the racist words so the perpetrator doesn't win. Let me create an analogy. An arsonist has a twisted desire to see the building burn that he set ablaze. By the same token, whoever wrote this trash, wants people to see what he wrote for him to get satisfaction.

We suggested to Mediah to paint over it and hide it. NOT to hide the reality that racism exists but so the perpetrator does not get his satisfaction. Mediah's point of view was to let it be seen so everyone will realize that racism is still out there. After some deliberation, we agreed with Mediah and that is why it stayed visible all day, however it became evident that some people thought it was part of the artwork for shock value. This, of course, is not the case. Someone eventually put up a hand-written note stating that the vandalism is an example of racism and a hate crime. In fact, if you go online and read the Cambridge Times article they have been completely accurate in how we were trying to properly deal with this unfortunate incident. 

The same morning after we had our discussion, I took immediate action and called the police. We also had security all night watching for problems but this perpetrator evaded their watchful eye. As a responsible festival, we did not sit on our hands. We will press charges if this person is caught.  

If I can quote Mediah because he said it better than me, "This is a social problem, not a festival problem". And to that end, as a festival, we are promoting the arts to everyone. The festival is not about social issues but absolutely, we will do our best to promote art in a socially responsible manner and with equality for everyone. We started that way, we believe in it and we've already demonstrated it and it shall continue.

Hopefully this will clear the air about our actions and how we feel about what happened.

Best Regards,

Brian Price and Linda Daniher

Festival Founders