North Cowichan Mayor Al Siebring is calling for civility on social media, even in response to racist comments he himself decried earlier this week.

According to the mayor, threats of violence in response to racist comments resulted in credible threats of suicide by the initial commenter, as well as RCMP involvement.

On Jan. 10, Siebring put a post on his public Facebook page condemning racism that has been directed toward members of Cowichan Tribes following a COVID-19 outbreak in the First Nations community. That post went viral, with more than 200,000 views and extensive media coverage. Many other provincial and even federal leaders have joined Siebring in his call for this racism to cease.

On Jan. 14, Siebring posted again about the harassment some of the posters of racist comments have since received.

According to SiebringB次元官网网址檚 post, the harassment has included messages such as B次元官网网址淵ou are a disgusting human being,B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址淧athetic racist,B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址淚 hope your children catch [COVID-19] and choke,B次元官网网址� and B次元官网网址淚 am white. You are a vile excuse for a human being and I will do everything in my power to make sure your children are removed from you.B次元官网网址�

The individual who was targeted with those messages has reached out to Siebring to B次元官网网址渁pologize unreservedly,B次元官网网址� the mayor said.

B次元官网网址淭his person B次元官网网址� and to be clear, there were lots of people posting [objectionable] stuff, not just this individual B次元官网网址� initially wrote me a private message saying: B次元官网网址業 was very wrong. I feel like [expletive]B次元官网网址� I did put up an apology which was deletedB次元官网网址� (But) there were many remarks on that apology. Some people were going to come to my home and cut me a new [expletive]. As well, I need a huge beating. I was told I should just kill myself.B次元官网网址�

That person wrote to the mayor again the next day, saying, B次元官网网址淚 am ready to kill myself just to save my family from being harrassed.B次元官网网址� They have since deleted their Facebook account, and Siebring said he hasnB次元官网网址檛 been able to respond to the messages.

B次元官网网址淏ut the threats of violence have precipitated RCMP involvement. And the suicidal iterations were real enough to precipitate multiple hours of people sitting with this individual to ensure they didnB次元官网网址檛 self-harm.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淔olks, THIS HAS TO STOP,B次元官网网址� Siebring wrote. B次元官网网址淩acism is wrong. But so is this kind of reaction. WeB次元官网网址檙e all human. We all make mistakes. And we all need to learn to apply grace and forgiveness. Please, pleaseB次元官网网址� letB次元官网网址檚 tone things down.B次元官网网址�

Cowichan Tribes councillor Stephanie Atleo said she fully agrees with Siebring.

B次元官网网址淚 know in seeing some of the messages, a lot of the anger is coming from non-First Nations citizens, and I do appreciate that theyB次元官网网址檙e speaking up and letting individuals know this is not OK, but there are also ways to do that that are OK and not OK. I donB次元官网网址檛 want anyone to be on suicide watch because they are being harassed.

B次元官网网址淚 think it goes both ways: whether you are spreading racist remarks or challenging them, how you challenge them says a lot about yourself, too.B次元官网网址�

There is sometimes a tendency to B次元官网网址渙vercompensate,B次元官网网址� Atleo said.

B次元官网网址淧eople know they have to do something, and they want to do it boldly,B次元官网网址� she noted. B次元官网网址淏ut they can go over the edge and be as cruel as the original act.B次元官网网址�

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