‘It’s okay to be white’ posters arrayed in New Westminster

NEW WESTMINSTER — Police in New Westminster are investigating after several ‘It’s okay to be white’ posters were found stapled to telephone poles near Douglas College.

Vanessa Woznow, 33, was walking along Eighth Avenue on Thursday afternoon when she saw one of the distinctive posters, which feature thin block letters printed on white paper. She posted a picture on Twitter before tearing the poster down, vowing to destroy any others she saw.

She later found three more, along with evidence that there had been more posters that someone else had taken down.

“I was really horrified to see them,” she said on Friday. “I don’t think we should give space to that kind of language.”

While the posters might seem innocuous, they have been associated with the far-right movement.

They’ve been popping up in cities across the Canada this week, one year after the online message board 4chan encouraged readers to post them to see what kind of reaction the “harmless message” would garner.

The saying has also been adopted by neo-Nazi and far-right groups.

New Westminster police responded to Woznow’s tweet with a message saying that they had opened a file and will be monitoring the situation.

“Thank you for bringing these posters to our attention,” the message said. “We have opened a file and will be monitoring these. If anyone would like to contribute information related to this file please call us at 604-525-5411 and refer to file 2018-21001.”

Woznow said she was heartened by some of the responses she has received on Twitter from people who disprove of the message. She also had feedback from people who didn’t understand the slogan’s history, while others were “wilfully ignorant,” she said.