The story went largely unreported at the time.
McGill student Tara Hecksher, who was born and raised in Nigeria was the daughter of an Irishman named Rodney Hecksher.
She came to Montreal to study at McGill and was cheered by about 700 when she was voted the queen of the parade for the 180th St. Patrick's Day Parade in Montreal.
Clearly there weren't many racists at that event.
But some creepy comments later started emerging, as people close to the parade expressed misgivings before the parade.
One well-loved Irish horseman from Griffintown expressed disappointment with the choice, as he communicated to me in a casual chat.
A woman near the top of the committee also made a derisive comment about "black Irish," I was told by a witness at the time.
Most Irish-Montrealers are not racist. But sadly, some are.
News media staff take part in the parade, so that might be why the awful display went unreported, as they were preoccupied and also possibly uninclined to embarrass the event they take part in.
I was a columnist and reporter for the Montreal Mirror at the time, My newspaper had connection or conflict of interest involving the parade. I attended it every year with my family. After 2004 no more.
My attempts to report on the attack were frustrated as I could not reach the victim. I could find no other witnesses and would not report hearsay.
But one radio staffer, I have learned, saw the event up close and made no secret about her disapproval all along.
Her account below, tells the uplifting story of the bravery of the young woman victim attacked so outrageously.
We are told that Tara Hecksher has since moved back to Nigeria and recently became a mother. Montreal needs to offer our respect and apologies for the brave young woman for enduring such awfulness.
The attacker was not apprehended.
The account below is from witness Sharman Yarnell who shared it yesterday.
It was a man in a trench coat, in which he had hidden a bottle in a paper bag. There was no reason to stop him because there are a lot of men wandering around on parade day with bottles in paper bags.
He got close to the girls on the podiums in front of the bandstand, pulled out the bag and splattered her with the contents - white paint.
She walked back to the bandstand and was a bit confused- I remember her saying it might have been and accident.
There was more paint on her cloak than anything else. It couldn't be wiped off.
She was very, very upset but both myself and Shelagh Healey aid it was up to her but if she would stand up to him, get back on the podium, we would stand beside her. We did - the other girls joined her after a bit and we moved away. They, too, were quite scared. There was an elderly black man watching (wish I had his name) and he told her not to let the man get away with it by hiding. She didn't - she was amazing!
'It was absolutely horrible - you know, that kind of horrible when everything moves around you in slow motion!
What was worse, was her feeling that it was an accident - I, as gently as I could, told her it was done on purpose. And she just couldn't grasp it.
She was and remains the brightest, most well spoken and strongest young woman I have ever seen on that Queen selection stage. She walked out in African dress and remarked on how quiet the audience had become! Terrific sense of humour! I sat with her parents at a dinner after the parade and apologized to them for the treatment - they told me that as unacceptable as it was, she must get used to it.
She grew up rather protected and went to private school in England and had never really come across this before.
How can people be so small and cruel?
theres no evidence to this horrible claim, other than 1 "witness".
ReplyDeleteshame on YOU.
This incident not a credit to Montreal: hope it's one of a declining kind.
ReplyDeleteHas it been 12 years? It was a neat thing to have a black woman as queen, I know I wrote somewhere "our queen" because it did seem so inclusive. But I was thinking about it recently, wondering when they might have another black queen. I guess it's complicated by a small pool, I'm assuming candidates have to have an Irish connection. But one year and now 12 years later, it's easy to forget.
ReplyDeleteI guess the role becomes fairly invisible once the parade is over, but it did seem that year she was erased very fast.
Michael
Mr Coolopolis: Readers who doubt your veracity should be ashamed of themselves:
ReplyDeletehttp://hour.ca/2004/04/01/the-black-eyed-irish/
Black St. Paddy's queen gets whitewashed: The black-eyed Irish
by Richard Burnett – April 1, 2004
The black-eyed Irish
Montreal’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade made city headlines last month when it chose Tara Hecksher as its first black parade queen in 180 years. What didn’t make headlines, however, was the fact that Hecksher was doused with a paint-like substance by a racist thug during the March 14 event.
"My parents are flying from Nigeria to see me in the parade," Hecksher, who’s studying international development and economics at McGill, told Hour before the parade. "I’m very excited to be the first black parade queen. I’d like to be a role model."
Hecksher isn’t exactly excited about the parade anymore, but ironically she’s become an even bigger role model for keeping her poise and composure while wiping the white paint-like substance from her face and body as her float passed the parade-reviewing stand. On the street bystanders looked on stunned.
The United Irish Societies of Montreal had two police officers accompany Hecksher along the parade route, but for whatever reason they weren’t watching her when she passed the stand.
"We are outraged at the manner in which this matter was handled," the Black Coalition of Quebec said in a prepared statement last Friday. "We regret that the media in general didn’t report this sordid affair. Racism cannot be contained by ignoring its existence. The United Irish Societies [which organizes the parade], the police and those responsible for the security of Irish parade queen Tara Hecksher should make a public apology for such insensitive behaviour. If these failures aren’t recognized these authorities are condoning racism."
At press time the United Irish Societies of Montreal was not available for comment (Hour left several phone messages). While photos of this year’s parade are now posted on their website, at press time there was no mention or photo of the Hecksher incident.
Says the Black Coalition, "Ms. Hecksher not only suffered this public assault, but [she must live with] the humiliation and ridicule she faced… for years to come."