The founder of the Aurora Black Community Association said political leaders need to pay more attention to “community safety," after she said a woman spat in her face and yelled racist words outside her downtown Aurora business.
Phiona Durrant, who owns Coconut Village Spa near Yonge and Wellington streets, said while she does not like to keep reliving the incident that happened May 28, she feels it is important that the community is aware of it.
“This kind of hate lives right here in Aurora, it’s not a one-off,” said Durrant. “As a person that’s deeply involved and engaged in the community like me, (I wonder) how many other stories are we not hearing?”
“We should be alarmed when these things are happening in our town, of any kind, because we want to be able to send a signal to people that these are not tolerable.”
Durrant was parking in a spot behind her business when she said a woman approached her, saying she was in the wrong spot. Durrant said the woman was “immediately angry,” and proceeded to yell and call Durrant racist names.
When Durrant phoned the property manager to try to resolve the situation by confirming she was able to use the parking spot, she said the woman started yelling racist names again.
“At this point, I realized, this has nothing to do with the parking, this is just hate,” she said. “This has to be hate, I can’t find any other words, because if you are looking for a solution and the (property manager) is on the phone with you talking, you would at least want to listen.”
“This woman did not want to care, she just continued with the violence,” she said.
Durrant said the woman then spat in her face.
While the incident was shocking, Durrant said she thanked God for helping her keep her composure after the incident, as it would have been viewed differently if she herself had reacted.
“It would be you the angry Black woman, never forget that. We are always the ones needing to control ourselves.”
In her role with Aurora Black Community Association, a group that aims to tackle systemic racism in the community, residents have made her aware of racism in the community, she said. Recently, a father approached her asking for support after he said his teenage son was being racially abused at school.
Durrant said while she was heartened by the number of people who offered support to her following the incident, she wants to see more attention paid to issues of safety in Aurora.
“Never dismiss. If one person is not safe, then none of us are safe.”
Hui Fan Chen, 54, of East Gwillimbury is charged with one count of assault in connection with the incident, according to York Regional Police media officer Const. Kevin Nebrija.
“Our hate crime unit was notified (and) the hate component of a crime is taken into consideration during the sentencing portion of a trial,” Nebrija added in a statement.
