Vancouver man charged with promoting hate in relation to racist graffiti in Richmond

A Vancouver man in his 60s is facing a rare charge of promoting hate in relation to allegations he scrawled racist graffiti on a poster of a Black model outside an optical store in Richmond.

A Crown prosecutor told a bail hearing for Chao Wang last week that Wang was allegedly caught on closed-circuit video in May 2021 vandalizing a public advertisement.

"The ad shows a Black male modelling some sunglasses," prosecutor David Meagher told a judge as a Mandarin interpreter translated the accusations for Wang.

"Mr. Wang drew what appears to be a rope of a belt around the neck of the male model as well as a swastika."

Meagher said Wang also allegedly wrote "some Chinese characters" which have been translated as advocating violence against Black people.

Although many bail hearings are covered by publication bans, Wang — who insisted on representing himself after firing his previous lawyer — did not ask for any type of ban on reporting.

Meagher said Wang is also the subject of a charge that has not been approved yet by Crown counsel in relation to racist graffiti in Nanaimo.

He's currently in custody facing a series of charges, including the alleged assault of an 80-year-old woman last May at the senior's centre where they both live on the Downtown Eastside.

Meagher said the woman complained to a staff member about the volume of Wang's music, at which point Wang allegedly showed up and "punched her in the face."

Police attended and Wang allegedly bit one of the officers in the arm — leading to a charge of assaulting a peace officer.

At the bail hearing, Wang repeatedly interrupted Meagher to complain about the length of time it had taken to bring his case to court.

He also told the judge he wanted to plead guilty and ignored her warnings about saying something in court that might be used against him in relation to the alleged assault.

"I only slapped her once," Wang said at one point.

"I want to emphasize one thing. The neighbour that I struck was not a white person. It was a Cantonese person. I would not be hitting a Caucasian person because they would not be harming me."