The Star - A Campbellford artist celebrated for his design of the toonie has drawn the ire of his community after he erected a 5-metre cross on his lawn and hung a noose from the top. Brent Townsend knows the display is especially controversial in a town that gained notoriety last Halloween when a Ku Klux Klan getup won first place in a costume contest. “I’m not trying to stoke racial fires ... It’s a symbol of mistreatment,” Townsend told the Star on Saturday. “It’s not a hate crime. If anything it’s a hate crime against me. I’ve been a victim.” Campbellford resident Troy Varty said it was “bad enough” when one man dressed in a white cloak and draped in the Confederate flag led another in blackface through a party at the Legion with a noose last Halloween. The duo won first place in the costume contest.
I had this whole blog ready to talk about what a dick this guy is for questioning why everyone was upset with his latest "art work" and then I read about the town's recent Halloween costume contest. Listen I'm not defending the merits of this guys anti-semitist symbolism he's got going on in his front yard, but I think to the point where your town just awarded a guy dressed up like the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan toting around his "boy" 1st place in a costume contest, you've probably just got to turn your eyes from this one.
Sorry, but if pretending to be walking around town with your slave up for auction is prize worthy than this guys art should be equally respected. I'm not sure I understand the outrage here either. It's ok to mock black people but not play off the Catholic/Jewish tensions come Easter time? That seems a bit hypocritical to me guys.
By the way, maybe we've been underestimating Canada? Maybe they're not the peaceful, "love they neighbor" society we all thought they were? Sure they still run faster from a war or conflict than your average fleeing French army, but this is an edgy and dark side to Canada I didn't even know existed. What happened to the innocent, afraid of the dark, maple syrup chugging, flannel lovers that we've grown to know?
You've changed Canada, you've changed.
