Members of the Guelph Black Heritage Society (GBHS) were brought to tears after finding the latest act of vandalism at Heritage Hall.
GBHS president Denise Francis was walking by the hall with her mom on Sunday morning during her daily patrol, when she noticed the bench in the pollinator garden was toppled over.
The bench was installed in 2020 in memory of her father and volunteer board member Norwood Francis, and was – they thought – safely secured in the ground with stakes.
“One person could not move it easily,” she said, adding that they secured it so well because they were concerned about vandalism from the beginning.
The GBHS is saddened to report yet another incident of vandalism at the Heritage Hall just days after addressing issues of vandalism the week before. This particular incident carries a different weight as it was a memorial to our late GBHS volunteer Norwood Francis. #vandalism pic.twitter.com/MqAc7Hya7D
— Guelph Black Heritage Society (@GuelphBHS) August 22, 2022
“He loved being at the building, he loved the work we're doing, and so we installed the garden and the bench in his memory.”
So when Francis and her mother saw it toppled over, they couldn't help but cry.
The incident is just one of many – so many, in fact, Francis has said she lost count.
“We're getting tired. I’m not sure why this is continuing … why people feel the need to be doing these deliberate acts,” she said.
The frequency seems to be escalating, from feces left at their front door to the crosses being stolen, which were laid out in memory of BIPOC community members lost in violence.
“Almost every day, some of these crosses are vandalized, some of them removed,” she said.
Although the police have been in contact with the GBHS, she said they haven’t been reporting these incidents because of the “lack of trust” they have for police in general.
The GBHS would like to thank the community members who have reached out and shown their support following the recent acts of vandalism at the Heritage Hall. Some have asked unfortunately, police help is not something we can rely on or accept. https://t.co/0TKB7wzUOZ pic.twitter.com/bGqWI2b9gj
— Guelph Black Heritage Society (@GuelphBHS) August 19, 2022
Francis said they are actually supposed to be taking some much-needed time off, but can’t because of everything going on.
Instead, they've been busy ramping up their recently reinstated community patrol, renewing their security system, and trying to figure out what else they could possibly do to improve the security around the building.
“But we're not going to be giving up, we're still going to be continuing our work within the community,” she said.
