I will begin by indicating that the African Canadian Social Development Council is an inclusive organization that welcomes and respects everyone.

On April 7th, 2023, I received a hateful e-mail which was also copied to about one hundred and fifty (150) friends of ACSDC. In fact, we, the leader­ ship of ACSDC, found the whole thing despicable and had nothing to do with it.

I have decided to write on this particular subject, even after my leaders have condemned it, due to a response made by one person, the Executive Director (ED) of one of our leading agencies here in Ontario. This person quickly pointed accusing fingers at the African Canadian Social Development Council (ACSDC) as the perpetrator of this hateful message and further announced the intention to report ACSDC to funders.

This is my take. This high-esteem ED, whom most of us appreciate, did not do the homework to find out who might be behind the hateful message before making such comments.

As a fact, the sender of that hateful mail used the name “AFRICAN COUNCIL”, a different email address and a logo as identity. The question will therefore be, why would one come to such a hasty conclusion that ACSDC is behind such a disgraceful act? The ED’s reaction towards ACSDC appeared personal and sought an avenue to settle unfounded scores. Again, why would one immediately think of reporting ACSDC to its (our) funders? Is the motive and interest to completely cut funding to ACSDC and deny the black and/or people of African descent the opportunity of equitable access to basic and essential resources? I believe this is not the motive and interest of the ED.

Let me end my thoughts on these few notes. False accusations and character assassination are very costly and deadly. There is an old, wise saying, “Had I known is always at last”. As one-black community, we must not entertain such things. Many things unite us than divide us. We share similar struggles and challenges as the world continues to remind us that (minorities and blackness) do not matter, irrespective of where we are from.

To end, can we (the whole black community in Ontario) come together one of these days and strategize how we can combat the housing crisis, high employment, underemployment, and mental illness bedevilling our various communities? I am of the view that these are some of the pertinent areas where we can put our united efforts. Long Live our United Black Community!!!.