‘Kill all Muslims’ scrawled in elevator of Edmonton apartment building

Editor’s note: This article contains disturbing subject matter.

EDMONTON — It was instant fear for an Edmonton mother when she first saw the words “kill all Muslims” followed by a racist derogatory word scrawled inside the elevator at her apartment building.

She was with her four-year-old daughter when she came across the graffiti.

“It’s really scary, especially in a big building like that,” she said. “I just read it and I just took her hand and I ran.”

She says she feared the person who wrote those disturbing words was still in the area.

“I am still shaking. And I’m thinking maybe that something (like that) happen to us in the future. Because you feel like you are not safe in a place.”

While she was able to shield her daughter from the hateful messages, another resident — an 8-year-old Muslim girl — was not as fortunate.

“She was shaken. She told her mother, ‘maybe when I grow up I cannot wear the hijab?’”

It wasn’t the first time the Edmonton mom has seen this language in her building. Last month it was the same derogatory slur.

“There needs to be more action. This person knows there is no action,” she said.

She is especially on edge after a recent spike of reported hate-motivated attacks against hijab-wearing women across Alberta.

She says she just wants to feel safe in the place she calls home.

“Last night I could not sleep well,” she said. “The entire time I was thinking, ‘What if someone broke the door?’”

She’s demanding more action from her building to fight hate.

“They just erased the thing and done. So, the person that did that thing, he knows that there is no action.”

“But in order to reduce crime, to reduce hate, we have to deal with it,” said Yousra Jomha, an advocate for Muslim women.

Jomha was part of a CityNews panel discussion Tuesday talking about the issues facing the Black, Indigenous, people of colour (BIPOC) community. She’s calling for politicians to take a stronger stance against hate, and for the community to step up.

READ MORE: ‘Anti-racism is freedom’: CityNews/660 NEWS explores hate in Alberta

“Those who see a person, a minority, in trouble, be the hero. Approach them and help them out. That’s the change. It starts with helping,” said Jomha.

Edmonton police say they are investigating the elevator incident and its hate crime unit has been made aware.

An investigator is in communication with office management to explore ways of enhancing security in the building.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of the story was changed to remove the woman’s name and identity over concerns for her safety.