The police continue to kill racialized folks and they continue to defend their actions as "necessary force". Here in Canada we get one police force to investigate another police force when that happens, no civilian oversight whatsoever. If an RCMP officer kills an indigenous person, then that person's community is expected to carry on as usual, sitting on the sidelines waiting for whatever verdict the investigating police force comes to. And since they all subscribe to the same philosophy of brutality against people of colour, the community knows what to expect, yet another justified homicide by a police officer.
When was the last time a police officer shot and killed a violent white supremacist? They generally get a get-out-of-jail-free card except for one crime, killing an officer of the law. Then all bets are off, they fall into the same category as the person of colour resisting arrest. In Atlanta a man of colour was dragged out of his car (he was sleeping) and in the kerfuffle he managed to grab an officer's taser and run away. At a certain point apparently he aimed the taser at an officer and was immediately shot and killed. I could understand that reaction if the man had grabbed a loaded gun, but a taser? Supposedly tasers are non-lethal, that is the whole point of using them. Having your taser grabbed and aimed at you is certainly no fun but it is not supposed to be life-threatening. Or if it is, then we in the community have been sold a bill of goods when the police justify using them because they are non-lethal. But in the eyes of the police a non-lethal weapon becomes lethal in the hands of coloured person.
Yet another indigenous person was killed by police in New Brunswick, only a week or two after the indigenous woman killed by police during a "wellness check". They shot him after a stun gun failed to bring him down, he was armed with a knife. A knife can be lethal, a stun gun is probably appropriate in the circumstances, but killing him? The incident is being investigated by another police force, which incidentally is not known for its pacifist responses to problems with indigenous folks. We can expect yet another whitewashing of police action.
You can lead a horse to water but we learn over and over that you just can't make it drink. You can shout out to the police about their brutal use of force against the community but apparently you can't get them to listen. Even when it is coming from the Prime Minister of the country himself.
4 comments:
They have far too much power, and once we started arming them, it became hard to control their behaviours and their indiscriminate treatment of POCs. And investigations on each other is a joke. The corruption of the cosy union carries a huge stink.
They are out of control and unaccountable. And I know some who are proud of their white supremacy leanings and blatant misogyny.
XO
WWW
Former Toronto mayor John Sewell was interviewed on CBC Sunday Edition today and he said pretty much the same thing as you, WWW. He said training programs won't help, neither will body cams. It's the culture (stupid). He quoted an old saying: police culture eats training for lunch.
Annie your previous post came up in my feed and I see it was deleted by you. i can so relate and my heart broke for you and I am so very sorry you carried this alone.
In 2009 I wrote about my experiences as a child.
Here:
https://wisewebwoman.blogspot.com/2009/03/theft-of-innocence.html
And it was had one of the most hits and responses ever. I'd say 90% of girl children are affected by such abuse and predatory behaviours.
Big hug. You are not alone.
XO
WWW
Yes, well, for various reasons I decided I wasn't ready to put it out there. Thought I was but I wasn't. I am painfully aware that this is all too common among women. Maybe another time.
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