Plenty of racism from man on dating site spurs woman to warn others

A woman living in St. John's is warning others about a man she met through an online dating site and the onslaught of racist messages he sent her when she didn't answer his phone call.

Lynn (CBC has agreed to only use her first name to protect her identity) immigrated to Newfoundland from Zimbabwe, and has been living in the capital city for four years.

From small talk to racist tirade

She recently met a man on dating site Plenty of Fish and eventually added him to Facebook Messenger, where they made small talk before not speaking for several weeks.

Then Sunday night her phone rang and she saw his number pop up on her call display, followed by a text message.

"I wasn't comfortable talking to him on the phone yet so I didn't answer," she told CBC's St. John's Morning Show.

"Then I responded to the message and that's when it got all out of control. It was very, very racist and no one should have to experience that."

Duty to warn other women

At first she brushed off his sexually aggressive messages, but then he began using racist slurs, calling her the N-word and telling her "not to spread AIDS."

She had no intentions of sharing his messages, but Lynn started to think about how there were likely other women this guy talked to, and that she had an opportunity to expose his behaviour.

"After I asked him to stop and the messages kept coming in, I started getting really emotional," Lynn said.

"To say such horrible words was what really got to me and I thought that people had to know the kind of person he really was."

So she went ahead and shared screenshots of the conversation on Facebook, along with a photo of the man himself.

The post got a lot of comments and shares, and Lynn said she's received overwhelming support.

She said other women have started coming forward saying the same thing happened to them. Facebook has since removed the post after it was reported as violating its privacy policy.

She also said she went to police with a formal complaint about the man, and in the meantime plans on steering clear of dating sites for a while.

But she refuses to let the experience taint her impression of Newfoundland and Labrador.

"There's still much love out there in the world and I would never try to say Newfoundland is a horrible place. I know Newfoundland is a great place. I've been here four years and I've really loved it," she said.

"It's just so sad to see there are people out there who think little of a whole continent and other people and other races. I hope we all grow from this."

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