A longtime Port Alberni family has been left disheartened after discovering racially-prompted vandalism on their car in Cherry Creek.
Angela Brown was called outside by her husband this weekend to discover that someone had drawn a swastika on the back of her brand-new car with permanent marker while it was parked overnight.
They called the Port Alberni RCMP and made a complaint, although the RCMP have received no other reports of such vandalism, and there are no suspects in this case, RCMP Cpl. Amelia Hayden said.
Brown and her family have been living in Port Alberni for 10 years.
Brown is currently a student at North Island College, is also a former special education assistant at Haahuupayak Elementary and volunteers with the Portal Players Dramatic Society at the Capitol Theatre, while her husband works with the Cherry Creek Fire Department and her son attends John Howitt Elementary.
“I think we’re a fairly well-known family,” said Brown. “I think most people know that I’m a brown woman, married to a white man.”
The family is planning to leave the community.
“We found it really disheartening,” said Brown. “It’s taken the wind out of our sails, for sure.”
One of the most disheartening parts, said Brown, is the fact that it might have been one of her neighbours.
“We don’t live in a neighbourhood where a lot of people walk through,” she said.
Brown said this is not the first time her family has been subject to racism in the community.
“We hear constant ignorant comments at barbecues, family gatherings,” she said. “This is the first time somebody’s been so bold as to write something on our property.”