"The police are very kind when I’m a young white woman just doing my job, contributing to society. But when I’m at a protest they will follow orders to hit, kick, and pepper spray me. If I had been one of the queer women arrested and detained during the G20 protests in Toronto, as I easily could have been, I would have been subject to threats of rape, vaginal-digital “searches,” and homophobic threats and insults by officers. Police blame rape victims for “dressing like sluts.” Police give black Muslim cyclists fines of $1,316 for eight bicycle violations in the course of two minutes. Police beat native youth unconscious and leave them to die in the snow. As a woman, a queer person, and an anti-racist person, I do not trust the police. I do not trust them not to harass and abuse me, and I did not trust them not to harass and abuse the man who was making me so nervous in the store last week."
—
- Mary Burnet, quoted in “Trying to understand a tragedy” at the Halifax Media Co-op (April 23, 2012)
one of the best ways i’ve seen a white person address their privilege in relation to the attitude of “calling the cops” when you feel unsafe. for so, so many people, calling the cops means exactly the opposite.
i’m definitely still not in a place where i can write about my experience at the g20, even a year later. i can’t even re-read what i wrote about it at the time. but all weekend i kept on hearing reports and remembering things i’ve spent the past 12 months trying to make sense of.
but one thing i just want to put out there: yes, it is incredibly important to recognize the injustices committed on the day of the g20 in toronto last year. yes, i support calls for a public inquiry. yes, i think the government/police should be held accountable for their rampant disrespect of basic human rights and their acts of violence. but most importantly, i think they need to be held accountable not only for the injustices committed on the streets of toronto in the few days around the g20, but the injustices committed every single day. how come, a year later, we are hearing the sensationalist stories of “innocent bystanders” who were subjected to police brutality, but hardly a word is being said about why people were out in the streets protesting in the first place?
harsha walia wrote this on june 29th, 2010:
While I think it is important to highlight the inhumanity and violence of our detentions, it is critical to remember that humiliation and dehumanization is the purpose of the prison-industrial complex. I was personally not expecting a better ‘experience’ than the horrific one I did have given the inherent nature of the police state. For those ‘innocent bystanders” (who were explicit about not being protestors), this is an opportunity to be made aware that the horrors they experienced at the hands of the police or while in detention are not unique moments in Toronto or Canadian history. We run the risk of exceptionalizing this moment, at the expense of normalizing the daily violence of police and prisons and the criminal (in)justice system for Indigenous communities, people of colour, low income neighborhoods, street-involved youth, and trans people.
unfortunately, i think she is right. that is exactly what is happening. we’re centering the stories of “innocent” bystanders who also happen to be (generally speaking) privileged white people who were just in “the wrong place at the wrong time” instead of taking the time to talk about why a police state is harmful to all people, whether it be at a massive protest movement for human rights in the country’s largest city, or on a daily basis all across canada. there’s a lot more to say and unpack, that’s all i can really formulate for now…
recommended reads:
"
In late 2010, Liliana Fontes approached Toronto Police after being violently attacked by an ex-partner. Police handed her details to Immigration Enforcement who initiated deportation proceedings. A Toronto Star expose and public pressure forced CBSA to place the deportation on hold.
On June 26, 2010, Syed Hussan, a No One Is Illegal-Toronto organizer was arrested on trumped up charges related to the G20. Soon after his arrest, his work permit application was rejected and deportation proceedings initiated. An access to information request showed National Post articles connected with his G20 participation in his Immigration Enforcement file; proof that Immigration Enforcement was tipped off by Police or Prosecution. Immense public pressure forced CBSA to delay the deportation proceedings and CIC to issue him a year long study permit. If convicted on these charges, Syed Hussan faces deportation.
These cases are just a few examples of a widespread problem that is a daily reality for people with precarious status across the country, and highlight the need to separate Policing and Immigration Enforcement. In 2006, after tremendous community-labour pressure, Toronto Police passed a ‘don’t ask’ policy for immigration status from ‘victims and witnesses’ of crime, unless there is a ‘bonafide reason’ to do so. This partial policy has been whittled down so it protects no one - people stopped while being racially profiled are not considered victims or witnesses – and as can be seen in the case of Liliana, it is not being enforced.
"
—
Making Policing and Immigration Enforcement Accountable to Communities March 15, International Day Against Police Brutality | Toronto Media Co-op
i was reading this article with great interest… and then felt sick as i read these parts. hussan is a former co-worker of mine.
i can’t believe how much fucked up shit goes down in the name of “justice.” when people talk about “police brutality” it isn’t always about a boot to the face or a physical act of violence: it is about a blantant disregard for humanity and the mindful ignorance of basic human decency… like trying to get a woman deported when she came to the police for help after being attacked by an ex-partner. how is that not violence.
![faketrain:
[img: a black and white photograph, from a print out or something, newspaper quality. a young feminine-presenting person is socking their fist in the face of a (British?) police officer. The cop-fighter is wearing a cardigan and is grabbing the copper’s baton with the same hand as they are holding their handbag. Their facial expression is focused on the cop’s face, mouth open showing teeth a bit.]
butchrag:
FUCK tha police.
black and white photo spam time! just in case you didn’t know, today is international day against police brutality.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lhxfrisQVz1qchy28o1_500.png)
