DISABLED BLACK VICTIM OF HATE CRIME TURNS TO CROWDFUNDING AFTER BEING DENIED REPRESENTATION BY HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION

Montréal, June 11, 2018 - A GoFundMe campaign for Harold Acquah, a disabled unilingual English-speaking Black victim of a racist hate crime, has been launched to raise money for his legal action against his aggressor after the Quebec Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission’s decision not to represent and support him before the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal where he now has to go at his own expense.

The refusal to assist Acquah any further arose despite the Commission’s own decision, rendered last month after five years of investigation, that Harold Acquah has been a victim of race-based discrimination and harassment, and that Gary Wheatley, one of the men who violently attacked Acquah, should pay him $30,000 in damages.

The reason provided by the Commission is that Acquah’s case “does not raise a question of public interest” and that he can go on his own to defend his civil rights. The Commission does not take Acquah’s state of heightened vulnerability into account. Acquah has had to stop working due to poor health; he cannot walk easily and requires knee surgery, and presently relies on social assistance.

For this reason, CRARR has launched a GoFundMe campaign for Acquah to raise $5,000 in order for him to be able to go to the Tribunal to enforce the Commission’s decision. CRARR has assisted Acquah since the violent assault near downtown Montreal in 2013. The Commission does not explain why it took five years to issue the decision.

In June 2013, Acquah was delivering newspapers in Pointe-Saint-Charles when a group of white men physically attacked him while verbally abusing him. One of the attackers, Wheatley, shouted the N-word at Acquah repeatedly while punching and kicking him in his face and body. Wheatley was arrested and charged with assault causing bodily harm and obstruction of justice; in 2016, he was sentenced to community service and two years of probation.

Acquah presently has no means to access justice. Helping Acquah go to the Human Rights Tribunal will ensure that victims of violent hate crime, racism, and discrimination, and who are left behind by the Quebec Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission, can access justice and enjoy the equal protection and the equal benefit of the law, especially in this International Decade for People of African Descent.

To support the GoFundMe campaign for Mr. Acquah, visit: https://www.gofundme.com/harold-acquah-victim-of-hate-crime