Last week Tim Edwards saw the racist sign posted on a fence near the Starlight Drive-In at about 7 a.m. Tuesday, July 24. After seeing this, he took it as a sign that something needs to change.
“It was myself and my wife that passed it,” Edwards said. “I’ve been dealing with racism all my life. To see this for the second time in our territory, it hurt.”
After calling the RCMP, he said officers were on scene to take down the sign at about 8:30 a.m.
Edwards is a Splatsin First Nation man. In response, he organized an anti-racism walk at the Splatsin Community Centre in Enderby Saturday.
He said that this isn’t the first time this sort of racism has occurred within his community.
“This is the second incident that was directed towards the people of the Splatsin nation. The first was with the murdered and missing women and we did a little bit but this time, me and my wife saw the sign first,” Edwards said. “I’ve encountered racism to the extreme in my younger days and what gave me the drive [to organize the walk] is our future generations.”
He has two children who go to school near where the incident occurred. He said that they are his inspiration and the reason he took action through this anti-racism walk.
He said that the goal was to get the community together, spread awareness and, hopefully, ensight change. Seeing the turnout, he deemed this initial effort a success.
Previous Coverage: Splatsin man organizes walk against racism after seeing racist sign
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