HARRC executive director discusses new resource for reporting hate crimes, a joint intiative with HCCI
Hate crimes have unfortunately been a longstanding in issue in Hamilton. To offer another form of support for the community the Hamilton Anti-Racism Resource Centre and Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion have worked together to develop hate crime reporting tool WeSupportHamilton.
HARRC supports Hamilton community members who have experienced racism and works to educate community on race-based issues while HCCI works to create an inclusive community through community engagement and workshops.
The WeSupportHamilton website was launched on May 8 and offers community members a platform to report hate crimes and access additional support resources. Some of these resources include legal aid, counselling and health services.
“WeSupportHamilton is a website that is designed to allow individuals in our community to report their experiences in the way that they would like it in the way that they would like. So it allows them to be able to say "how I want to be supported, I want my story to move forward",” said Lyndon George, executive director of HARRC.
WeSupportHamilton is a website that is designed to allow individuals in our community to report their experiences in the way that they would like it in the way that they would like. So it allows them to be able to say "how I want to be supported, I want my story to move forward."
Lyndon George, executive director, Hamilton Anti-Racism Resource Centre
The website's concept was supported by years of research and community-based conversation. Ameil Joseph, an associate professor of social work at McMaster University, and Kojo Damptey, a sessional Instructor at McMaster, were especially important throughout the entire process.
In 2019, Joseph and Damptey supervised Shubham Maini and Nawshaba Ahmed who wrote a report that explored the basis for online hate reporting. From there, with help from the aforementioned McMaster members, George shared that focus groups were utilized to help shape what was important to support the Hamilton community.
“We had some students conduct research focus groups on what the support could potentially look like, what people would like to see come out of that and looking into why this is needed within the community and really pulling in important information,” said Koubra Haggar, programs manager at HCCI.
As WeSupportHamilton is used for reporting hate incidents that people in Hamilton endure, they are planning to try to synthesize the information to serve as data, which could be used to develop educational material to understand better hate crimes that occur in the city.
Haggar also shared that by putting the community of Hamilton at the forefront of this project, they hope that it will allow those who may have distrust in sharing their experiences with police to have another avenue by which they are able to feel that their experience is recognized and respected.
“The majority of people...at least that I've interacted with, don't report incidences of hate to the police at all. . . just not thinking that it's worth it, or not feeling safe doing that or not knowing or thinking that it would be productive in the long term,” said Haggar.
Given that the website was released a few months ago, George explained the main goal now is to share the resource. They hope that the Hamilton community, including McMaster students, will slowly become more aware of the resource so that they can use it if they see fit.
Moving forward, they hope to further expand the scope of the website. George explained that ultimately this is a resource for community by community; the website will always be adjusted to best fit the needs expressed by the community, including students.
“WeSupport can be one of multiple steps. . .a student can take [when] looking for that type of support. We would always be happy to kind of help out when needed and they don't need to feel like their [information] is going to be going anywhere…Just knowing that they do have support in Hamilton, and then we can connect them to resources that are in the community,” said Haggar.
WeSupport can be one of multiple steps. . .a student can take [when] looking for that type of support. We would always be happy to kind of help out when needed and they don't need to feel like their [information] is going to be going anywhere…Just knowing that they do have support in Hamilton, and then we can connect them to resources that are in the community.
Koubra Haggar, programs manager, Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion
Haggar and George encouraged McMaster University students to utilize the resource if they find that it can be of help to them.
Overall, both HAARC and HCCI hope this resource empowers members of the Hamilton community to share their experiences and seek the support they need.
Two Hamilton and Toronto-based artists share their excitement for fandom merchandise through stickers, pins and zines
Not all friendships are compatible for a business relationship. Many underestimate the pressure a business can put on a friendship and as a result, witness their lifelong bonds break. However, Bae and Boba co-owners Clover Thursday and Victoria Nguyen demonstrate that with proper communication and trust, a friendship can be the key to a successful business.
Thursday and Nguyen are freelance artists from Hamilton and Toronto, respectively, who met during their thesis class at the Ontario College of Art and Design. Despite having polar opposite personalities, with Thursday being more extroverted and Nguyen more introverted, they became close friends and launched Bae and Boba together in 2018.
Bae and Boba is an Etsy shop where the duo design and sell zines as well as cute and whimsical characters – from mermaids to boba bear – on stickers and pins. The name Bae and Boba was inspired by Thursday’s love for drawing cute female characters and Nguyen’s love for bubble tea. They created the business to provide more spaces for people who like anime, kawaii culture and alternative culture. Through the business, they want to encourage people’s passion and enthusiasm for fandoms.
“During quarantine and isolation . . . it’s amazing how important it is to have something to look forward to. People are excited to get that really cute sticker or a really cute pin they liked . . . It’s really nice to be able to give that excitement to people,” said Thursday.
“During quarantine and isolation . . . it’s amazing how important it is to have something to look forward to. People are excited to get that really cute sticker or a really cute pin they liked . . . It’s really nice to be able to give that excitement to people,” said Thursday.
The duo says open communication, patience, collaboration and compromise are vital to their business. It was a learning curve to figure out what they each value as artists and how to compromise on artistic differences. They are still learning how to work better together and create harmony between their different drawing styles. While Nguyen is more detail-oriented, Thursday uses more expressive linework.
During the ideation process, they constantly send each other rough drafts, ideas and feedback. This was especially important while working on the Kickstarter they created to crowdfund for their enamel pins. The Kickstarter launched in August and featured pins representing teas from around the world. In the same month, they also released their first zine together.
“[The Kickstarter project] was kind of a big testament to how we were able to compromise both of our aesthetics and styles and really figure out an even better way to work together,” said Thursday.
“[The Kickstarter project] was kind of a big testament to how we were able to compromise both of our aesthetics and styles and really figure out an even better way to work together,” said Thursday.
Thursday has previously released other zines on Bae and Boba, including Black Skin, White Masks which was published this summer and whose proceeds went toward organizations such as Black Lives Matter, Black Health Alliance and Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion. The illustrations are based on Franz Fanon’s book by the same name in which he discusses his experience with racism and anxiety as a Black man in 1960s France.
“[Black Skin, White Masks was] a milestone that I hit as an artist using what I can do and using my talents to try and influence some sort of change,” explained Thursday.
Nguyen shared the same sentiment about using art for social change.
“We’ve always enjoyed making cute or beautiful things, but seeing the events happening around the world, we just thought we should use our skills to do some good because we all had such a visceral reaction to George Floyd, so it feels wrong to not do something right now,” said Nguyen.
Thursday and Nguyen were both amazed by the excitement and support from customers, friends, family and the artist community. Through the business, they were able to connect with people outside of Canada from the United Sates, France and Australia.
This is just the beginning for the duo as they continue to use their work to bring excitement to people who stumble across their Etsy page or are looking for art with a meaning behind it.
