And it happened during Black History Month

A number of posters describing the Black Lives Matter movement as a “violent, anti-white, pro-black group” surfaced throughout the campus of Algoma University Thursday morning.

Algoma University Students’ Union vice president campus affairs Pauline Danquah – who is black – says that she was getting ready for school at home when she was informed of the presence of hate posters by a fellow member of the student union.

“I was, shocked, I was surprised and I was hurt,” said Danquah. “This whole hate thing on the Black Lives Matter movement and black people is real.”

A presentation entitled Good Hair, Bad Hair – a discussion regarding the politics of black hair, according to Danquah – was scheduled for that evening at the university as part of Black History Month. The event was facilitated by Pascale Diverlus, a co-founder of Black Lives Matter Toronto.

“I’m trying to do an event to empower black students, and someone was just not having it, or happy about it,” Danquah said.

Later that day, Danquah was assured that “there was no place for racism or hate” during a meeting involving staff, faculty and Algoma University president Asima Vezina. She was also assured during the meeting that the university is investigating in order to identify the source of the hate posters.

“I haven’t really heard anyone talk about the movement, or about black people like that in the Sault, or on my campus,” said Danquah. “I just think it was that one person, really, who had that issue - but then it made me think, if it’s just that one person, that there might be other people who think the same way as this person.”

The Good Hair, Bad Hair presentation, which was organized by Danquah, went ahead as planned on Thursday afternoon.

“This is why we have those conversations,” Danquah said. “If I’m going to get somebody upset, it means I’m doing something right, and this is why we have those kinds of conversations.”

“It created a safe space for folks who were also feeling the same way I did throughout the day.”

Danquah says that she had “mixed emotions” leading up to the presentation _ a little scared, but for the most part, very hurt by the posters.

“Oh wow, it was hard. It was very hard,” Danquah said. “I was angry, I was sad, I was upset.”

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