Police investigate after girls allegedly met with racial slurs at Tecumseh park

A park is a place for kids to play, laugh and run around — but according to the family of five young girls in Tecumseh, Ont., Southfield Park will be remembered as the spot where they experienced racism for the first time.

Razia Fung, the girls' mother, said the incident happened on Saturday, Sept. 14 just before 3 p.m. Her husband, who lives in Brampton but visits Windsor on weekends, had taken her five daughters to the park.

But Fung knew something was wrong when the girls came home crying after just 10 minutes, she said.

"I was thinking, 'What's going on? Did something happen?' And they kept saying, 'There's a bad man in the park.'"

She immediately called 911. With a Tecumseh OPP dispatcher on the line, Fung asked her children what happened.

"[My 11-year-old daughter] said, 'Some man came.'" 

Fung said the man saw the children at the park sitting on a bench. "He came over. He had his phone, started recording ... and then he did the middle finger for them and told them to 'f--k off, n-----s," said Fung.

"I was very angry. I was upset ... I was trying to be strong. I actually wanted to cry because she was crying very much. I was very, very angry."

Explaining racism to her daughters

Fung said explaining the situation to her children was difficult. After all, it was their first time experiencing racism. The five girls are ages 11, eight, seven, five and three. Fung also has a one-year-old son who was at home when this incident allegedly took place.

"They had no idea what racism was," explained Fung, adding she even looked for ways to explain what racism is to her children by looking online.

"My mom never had that conversation with me ... So it was tough. It's something you're not taught as a person growing up, that this is one of the things you have to do. You have to learn how to talk to your kids about racism."

She said children can't be protected from racially-charged incidents forever, whether it be at school or "on the streets."

"You can't say all white people hate all black people — but some white people do not like people who look like us," she said. 

The alleged incident has left 11-year-old Baiga Mwondha scared of going to the park without her mom.

But she recalled being confused when her mother tried to explain her that some people can demonstrate racially-motivated behaviour.

"I couldn't really believe it that people think just because they're a different skin colour or personality, they think that they're better than them," said Mwondha. "We're all humans."

According to Mwondha's mother, the 11-year-old's fears extend beyond the park. She's also scared of going anywhere outside "in case the person passes by."

"She didn't want me to go to the gym because she's scared to be left in the house in case someone comes. She's very, very scared. She doesn't know who to trust," Fung said, adding her 11-year-old daughter "needs someone to talk to" because the alleged incident has made her very anxious.

'Teach our children to learn to love'

Lindiwe Sithole is a job developer and employment counselor at Women's Enterprise Skills Training of Windsor. 

Sithole, who also works will black youth, said one of the things parents and guardians need to teach their children is "to learn to love everybody, because everybody is special in their own way."

"What I always told my children is, if somebody gets a cut, what colour is the blood? Everybody's blood is the same," she said. "We might not have the same look on the outside of the skin, but the blood that comes out is the same."

She added that she would teach children that individuals who act or say racist things "just don't understand how that makes you feel."

"Whatever people can call you, it doesn't change, it doesn't define you," Sithole said. "You are not defined by what people tell you. You are defined by what is within you, and what comes out of you."

Tecumseh OPP say the incident is being investigated, but have not confirmed if charges have been laid.