On August 10th Mr. Werner wrote an article in which he described black Liberal candidate Nerene Virgin as a tar baby. Virgin, a former CBC Newsworld journalist, was hand-picked to run in the Hamilton East-Stoney Creek riding.
His column, headlined Into the Briar Patch, compared the situation to the famous American Uncle Remus folk tale.
"You'd think the Progressive Conservatives and the NDP were lurking behind a tree like Br'er Fox anxiously enticing the cocky and arrogant Br'er Rabbit, or in this case the Hamilton East-Stoney Creek provincial Liberals, to make a grab for the Tar Baby in the road,"he wrote. He later referred to a failed Liberal candidate as a "bland white male."
The slur is not only offensive to the black community, but to all people of the greater Hamilton area. It is unfathomable, in this day and age, to consider that such crap could be passed off as journalism. It was only a few months ago that broadcaster Don Imus lost his job for uttering similar racial slurs. Clearly, that lesson on social values was lost on the small mind of Kevin Werner.
I truly believe in freedom of speech and welcome all forms of opinion but freedom is a double edged sword that must be handled with care. Mr. Werner has a responsibility to adhere to a moral and ethical code of conduct. In this circumstance, he has abused that freedom and shunned his responsibility.
Hamilton Community News offered this apology,
Hamilton Community News apologizes to our readers, the citizens of Hamilton and provincial Liberal Party candidate Nerene Virgin for a column which appeared in the Aug. 10th issue of our newspapers.
Contained in the column, which dealt with the Hamilton East-Stoney Creek Liberal nomination race, was a term that has racist connotations. The phrase is deeply offensive - both to our community and our company - and it should never have been used.
The writer did not understand the racist implications of this historical term, or the offence that it was certain to provoke.
We apologize without reservation for publication of this material. We will be reviewing our internal processes to ensure an error like this does not happen again.
I wonder what type of action would be taken if someone was to attach a misguided opinion to Mr. Werner, alluding to his German ancestry and the era when this type of opinion was poisoning the minds of way to many people?
Later,
Kenaz
