African Roots Festival posters left in shreds in apparent act of vandalism
Navel Sarr is the founder of the St. John's African Roots Festival. He said he shared the news of the vandalism to speak out on the acceptable behavior. He says he doesn't know if the vandalism was racially motivated. (Danny Arsenault/CBC)
The organizers of the St. John's African Roots Festival were shocked to find that all the promotional posters they had distributed for the event had been ripped and torn from the everywhere they had been posted.
"I was shocked," says Navel Sarr, president and founder of the festival.
The annual festival is a free event that celebrates African music. This year, the festival will have its sixth performance, but Sarr says it's the first time he has seen this scale of vandalism targeted at the organization.
It took an hour for volunteers to tape 40 posters around downtown St. John's last week. Sarr said all the posters were torn or destroyed while surrounding posters for other events were untouched.
Sarr said he isn't sure if racism played a part in the vandalism. He didn't file any complaints with the police and isn't planning to, even if the culprit is identified.
However, Sarr did share a video of the posters on the festival's social media platforms, showing what the posters looked like when they were taped to the poles as well as how they looked after they had been torn to shreds.
He said he got supportive reactions from the community and more people saying they will come to the festival to show their support.
"Unfortunately, someone doesn't want these kinds of events in the city, but they can't stop us," Sarr said. "This kind of event brings people together."
The St. John's African Roots Festival is planned to happen next weekend.
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