A Sydney woman wants to remind the public that racial ugliness isn’t limited to the United States after she found graffiti with messages of hate at a baseball field.
Brittany MacLean says she watched the white supremacist rally unfold in Charlottesville, but never thought she would have to deal with racist messages at home.
“I think it's extremely hurtful to see that this could happen in our small town,” MacLean says. “I know with Charlottesville you are seeing all these images, but to see it hit so close to home is really terrifying and disgusting.”
Police in Cape Breton say they haven't received any complaints about the graffiti, but it's one they take very seriously.
“Graffiti is mischief and is punishable anywhere from a fine to up to 10 years in jail,” says Const. Jonathan Kelly of Cape Breton Regional Police.
The city says parks and grounds were notified Thursday night, but when they arrived Friday morning it was already painted over.
They say a private citizen cleaned it up.
“I get super emotional with it because I can't imagine that we've come so far to go back to all these racist comments,” says MacLean.
MacLean believes whoever is responsible for the graffiti didn't realize what they were doing.
“I would like to think that they thought that it might just be a funny joke to tell their friends, or to think that it's a trend that happening,” she says. “It's not a joke and it's nothing that we can take lightly.”
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Kyle Moore.
