The RCMP is on the trail of the person who sent a vile, racist email to a Richmond woman who launched a bursary to help struggling, single Black mothers.
Richmond RCMP said it was actively investigating the complaint made on the weekend by La Toya Barrington, a businesswoman who decided to give back to the community that “had her back” when times were tough as a single, Black mom herself.
Not long after the Richmond News reported last week how Barrington was welcoming donations to the bursary, she and a member of her staff received an email littered with graphic racist comments.
The RCMP, while pointing out the content of the email didn’t meet the criteria for a criminal offence, said it still intends to find and contact the author.
"Racism has no place in our community,” said Richmond RCMP’s Cpl. Ian Henderson.
“Richmond RCMP takes all allegations of hate-related crimes very seriously. Any allegation with potential undertones of racial-hatred will be given the fullest attention and oversight.
“In this case, the complainant contacted the Richmond RCMP…after she received a suspicious email with apparent racial undertones.
“The initial investigation determined that the disjointed, offensive rambling content of the email did not meet the threshold of a criminal offense at that time.
“However, the Richmond RCMP investigation into this matter continues. It is hoped that by identifying the email sender, police will be able to more accurately assess the sender's intent, and help prevent this type of offensive communication from continuing."
The anonymous email referenced the News’ story about Barrington’s bursary and questioned why she is “taking money from white people” to give to Black women.
The author used the “N” word when addressing Barrington and signs off the brief rant by referring to her, and presumably all Black people, as “vile creatures.”
Barrington, who received the email to her Go2Girl cleaning business address, didn’t respond to it but reported the abuse to Richmond RCMP straight away.
“I was a little numb, but not surprised. My booking manager got the email at the same time as me and she was quite shaken up,” Barrington told the News on Monday morning.
“I’m not shocked at all and I’m OK. It won’t deter me (from what I’m doing). It has people talking. And people still say racism isn’t bad around here.”
Last week, the News told how she kick-started a bursary for Black single mothers to coincide with Black History Month, which started this week.
Barrington had a goal of raising $2,000 by the end of January for the bursary.
But such was the support of the local community that she now hopes to have enough money to offer up to three bursaries.
