Langley family defiant after "racist graffiti" pops up outside home (PHOTOS)
A Langley family showing supporting for Ukraine amidst the war had their home defaced with racist graffiti this week.
Kiersten Bisgaard’s home in Willoughby, Langley proudly displays a blue and yellow Ukrainian flag. The sidewalk outside her front gate was vandalized sometime on Thursday, March 9, she told told Daily Hive.
The vandals drew a crude swastika on the Ā gate and wrote “Ukrain = Nazi” on the sidewalk.
Kiersten Bisgaard/Supplied
“We have lived here for eight years and have never experienced anything at all like this. We are walking our dogs daily and frequently meet friendly people in our multi-cultural neighbourhood,” Bisgaard said.
She was “surprised, but not shocked” by the incident.
“We’ve seen far too many similar acts of racist vandalism increasing in the last few years,” said Bisgaard. “I never thought we would be the target of something like this.”
Putin’s propaganda
Bisgaard assumes she was targeted for flying the Ukrainian flag by “someone that has bought into Putin’s propaganda.”
“He has falsely justified his invasion of a sovereign nation as necessary to remove supposed Nazis in the Ukranian government,” Bisgaard said.
Based on intelligence from the Government of Canada, the Kremlin has “long spread disinformation and propaganda to achieve its objectives” and continues to disseminate lies to justify an unprovoked, unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine.
Being accused of nazisim
“To be falsely accused of being Nazis or flying an emblem of Nazi supporters is so far off the mark, that it is comical at this point,” said Bisgaard. “My husband and I are both grandchildren of WWII vets, British and Canadian, respectively.”
Both she and her husband are high school teachers, working with students directly affected by the war in Ukraine.
“When I think of my students, it disgusts me that this happened,” she said.
Bisgaard said the incident left her feeling “creeped out that a stranger was outside my home doing something so evil.”
New graffiti
The next day, the family was leaving for work in the morning when they noticed even more graffiti outside.
“Honestly, it made us smile and gave us a chuckle. The community response has been reassuring,” she said.
Kiersten Bisgaard/Supplied
Someone had painted over part of the sidewalk graffiti to make the new tag read “Go [Ukraine].”
Cleaning up
Bisgaard said she’d received many offers to help clean up the paint.
Her family will try to clean it themselves with their pressure washer, but they will alert the township if they cannot remove it from the sidewalk, which is City property.
Not backing down
Even more Ukraine flags are on display now | Kiersten Bisgaard/Supplied
Bisgaard has added two more flags to her home, she says, in defiance of the vandal, adding “we won’t be bullied.”
Bisgaard said she’d contacted the RCMP and hopes to be connected to the hate crime unit.
Daily Hive has contacted Langley RCMP for updates on the investigation and will update this story.
More to come…
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