Family becomes target of racist comments in Father’s Day campaign

Family becomes target of racist comments in Father’s Day campaign

Joseph and Raiza Ocampo and their son

By Irish Mae Silvestre
The Philippine Reporter

While racist incidents are becoming widespread in the Asian-Canadian community, one family learned what it’s like to be the target of discrimination on a public platform.

For Raiza Ocampo, 30, it was a tender father and son moment that she simply had to capture: her husband, Joseph, 37, changing a car tire and beside him, their son Isaac, 4, imitating his dad with his toy car.

It was spontaneous and captured the essence of fatherhood. That’s why when Real Canadian Superstore put a call out for photo submissions for Father’s Day, Raiza didn’t hesitate to post her husband and son’s picture. Soon enough, the photo was chosen as one of a series of images that appeared on the supermarket chain’s website and social media to celebrate fatherhood.

The experience was nothing new for Raiza and her family.

“We do this stuff for fun like going on ads that appear all over the city,” she said, adding that they’ve appeared in ads on buses and in libraries across Regina, Saskatchewan, where they live. “This was our first Canada wide ad.”

However, what Raiza did not expect was the slew of racist comments on Facebook and Instagram.

“I was extremely surprised because we’re in a lot of ads and this picture was so cute,” she said.

“And to see those comments I was like, ‘Oh my god, people are so savage.’”

One Facebook comment stated: “i’m gonna get him a face mask and a 6 feet ruler.” Another stated: “Could you tell me where I can find the floor jacks in your stores I’ve looked and looked to no avail. Apparently right next to the ichiban… lol.”

Raiza said that she proceeded to take screenshots of each one to share them with friends, some of whom have reported the comments to Facebook.

“It’s crazy because that’s what people see, right?” she said. “They see a different race and that’s what they want to pick and point at.”
The father and son photo was also posted on the company’s Instagram account, where one commenter stated that Joseph was “the officer from George Floyd” implying that he looks like Tou Thao, the Asian American officer who was charged with aiding and abetting in the murder of George Floyd.

Raiza stated that the comments don’t only affect people in the photos but “other Asians who will read that and would get affected, too.”

When asked about their policy on racist comments on social media, Real Canadian Superstore replied via Facebook: “We denounce any form of racism on our page and posts and do not tolerate hate. We are a diverse team that stands for inclusion and representation of all Canadians, and proudly support our partners, communities and customers. Comments like these will be deleted.”

As for dealing with racism, Riza stated that she refuses to let them affect her.

“We have to show them that they don’t have control over us, and we must be confident in our roots and culture,” she stated. “And hopefully we can teach that to the younger generations.”