Saskatoon mayor tackles online racism in Facebook post

The mayor of Saskatoon is taking aim at online racism by bringing his message to the medium.

Charlie Clark wrote a lengthy post on his official Facebook page Sunday, calling out “everyone who is taking the time to post memes and internet stories that reinforce racist stereotypes.”

“I can tell the tone of the posting, the tone of the image, the tone of the meme is to try and pigeon hole a community and reinforce stereotypes that people hold,” he told 650 CKOM Monday.

“If anybody sees those images, or posts those images, and they think because they have seen some meme they understand how another culture operates, then they’re fooling themselves. That’s not the reality of the real world.”

Clark explained his message was prompted by commenters on his posts spreading hateful messages and memes.

In his post, he wrote that meeting people from different communities in his role as mayor helped “shatter (his) biases every day.”

The mayor then invited people to do the same.

“Find an opportunity to meet someone, attend a gathering within the community, have a conversation across the fence,” he wrote.

“It takes courage to cross a perceived divide in how we see the world, but it is the only way we will truly achieve the human goal of an inclusive democratic society that is built as our provincial motto states, ‘from many peoples strengths.’”

As of Tuesday morning, the post was shared more than 700 times and received more than 2,600 reactions.

—With files from 650 CKOM’s Celine Grimard.