#blmtotentcity

[master-bae-tion]

Africa's menagerie

[mashalsphotos]

[fycanadianpolitics]

For Black Lives Matter, some long-sought victories | Toronto Star

Activist group’s history and structure get less attention than its tent city.

When Black Lives Matter Toronto ended its tent city occupation at police headquarters, the group left behind a sign: “You are on notice. Your anti blackness has been exposed. We are not finished.”

They weren’t finished, and they weren’t starting, either.

The group has been putting police “on notice,” using the exact same language, since organizing under the banner for the first time in November 2014.

Recent victories, such as the fulfillment of its demand for a coroner’s inquest into the police shooting death of Andrew Loku, have come after prolonged efforts going back far beyond the encampment.

“We’ve been trying to get attention on this for almost a year. Some of these demands extend longer than a year,” Sandy Hudson, one of the group’s co-founders, told the Star recently.

Though the recent protests were sparked in part by a Special Investigations Unit decision not to lay charges in Loku’s death, the group and its overarching demands — overhaul the SIU, end carding, address anti-black racism — are nothing new.

Toronto’s Black Lives Matter chapter has taken up the fight for police accountability, a movement that stretches back decades in this city, with the support of an international network that began forming in 2012.

And it’s starting to stand out.

“I’m really proud of (them),” Patrisse Cullors, one of the network’s founders, told the Star. “I think they’re doing some of the most cutting-edge work in our network.”

It’s a network with distinct goals and guiding principles, including privileging women and queer and trans people, and an infrastructure to support local action [...]

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Attorney General has yet to read SIU report on Loku shooting — let alone make it public

Unless there is a serious risk of personal harm to releasing information, including the officers involved, the contents of SIU director’s reports should be public, opposition says.

A month after the Special Investigations Unit cleared the Toronto police officer who shot and killed Andrew Loku, the attorney general says she has not yet read the secret report that details how that decision was made.

Madeleine Meilleur said her chief of staff, Shane Gonsalves, has a copy and that she will obtain it and read it. But asked Monday if she could make the report public afterwards, she said: “You know what, I don’t think so.”

The opposition is calling on her to immediately release reports by the SIU, Ontario’s police watchdog. Randy Hillier, justice critic for the Progressive Conservatives, told the Star he’ll be raising the issue in the legislature and with Meilleur directly.

“We know that one of the hallmarks of justice is that justice must be seen to be done,” he said. “You cannot have public confidence in the rule of law if the reports are hidden from view.”

NDP Deputy Leader Jagmeet Singh, a criminal lawyer, agreed the Loku report should be released, saying “the more public scrutiny, the better.”

Unless there is a serious risk of personal harm to releasing information, including the officers involved, the contents of SIU director’s reports should be public, Singh said.

Black Lives Matter Toronto co-founder Rodney Diverlus said the fact that Meilleur had not yet read the report is further proof that the SIU investigative process is flawed and inefficient.

“Already we’ve talked about how the SIU works with such little accountability and oversight and the only other person who is entrusted to provide that extra set of eyes, and this oversight, doesn’t even bother to read the report.”

Continue Reading.

[fycanadianpolitics]

Part 1 of 2 of a Q&A with two members of the BLMTO Steering Committee.

great interview with some of the organizers of BLMTOTentCity, check out the link for the full thing

Because here’s the thing about activism: it doesn’t build character, it reveals character.

The challenges that have come up in Toronto have been incredible. And so the idea that, in such a short period of time, a dedicated few could inspire and mobilize people… I think people were ready, they wanted it. They were ready for change and a shift in how we understood each other and justice. And there is now space for militancy and a space for radicalism. And Black Lives Matter is an anchor point in how we understand not just anti-Black racism but liberation as a whole, and so that’s what I mean when I say the culture of organizing has changed.

We really shifted the culture of organizing in the city and made it so there are multiple entry points for people to come into, and that’s incredibly important because there is not one way to do activism. People don’t have to be the most ardent activist every day of their lives, but there are only like two or three moments in your life that make you a superhero. And I feel in so many ways Toronto and so many of us there, we rose to that occasion, so that’s number one.

Second is Black and Indigenous solidarity [discussed in the next question]. Third, I think it wasn’t just an occupation. It was a healing justice space. It was a resource centre. It had programming every day. Fight for $15 came and they had their meeting there. Black Liberation Collective had a meeting there as well. We had movie nights. There were at minimum ten people there every single moment of the day, 3:30 in the morning. We had gospel choirs who would come in and sing to us. People would wander in off the streets to take a look at the art and to make art. So it became a resource centre more than it was an occupation. [...]

JK: The Black and Indigenous solidarity that was on the ground is going to be instrumental in what mobilizing and organizing in Canada and that part of Turtle Island will look like moving forward. We challenged the myth of “stolen land versus stolen labour,” and rather recognized that these things happen simultaneously.

Our struggles are deeply, deeply linked through colonization and mass incarceration and police brutality and poverty. Our struggles are unique but our liberations are interconnected.

One line that I think we’re really going to take moving forward that is going to change things in really transformative ways is, “Black Lives Matter on Indigenous Land”. I think that that line, and the commitments that were made under it and the relationships that were built there as a result of it, are going to shape how we understand organizing with each other for generations to come.

[fycanadianpolitics]

I was vilified for telling the truth about racism in Toronto | Toronto Star

A co-founder of Black Lives Matter Toronto considers why the controversy over a months-old tweet she wrote has drowned out the accomplishments of her movement

To be a black Muslim woman in Toronto is to feel deep isolation, the result of omnipresent systemic anti-black, patriarchal and Islamophobic discrimination. It is to be under constant attack. To see bodies like mine ignored in the news when they suffer, when they disappear and when they die, unjustly.

Evidently some do not believe this is true. During Black History Month, I was bombarded by tweets from white men asking me to prove that racism, Islamophobia and misogyny exist. Why should I have to prove the existence of the forces that torment me and members of my community to people who don’t believe they exist and, worse, who perpetuate them? And so two months ago I tweeted, “Plz Allah give me strength not to cuss/kill these men and white folks out here today.” I put my rage and trauma into words, not action, not threat. Faced with hate, I sought restraint from god and support from my online community.

Fast forward to now. Black Lives Matter Toronto, a movement I cofounded, camped outside the police headquarters for two weeks through incredibly difficult weather conditions fighting for justice against the attack on black life in Toronto. The protest was prompted by the police shooting of Andrew Loku, a man armed only with a hammer, and the lack of transparency that followed. We have been calling for an end to anti-black racism in all institutions, from the racist practice of carding to the lack of accountability, transparency and oversight of police officers who kill black people in this city. And we got results. In two weeks, we convinced city councillors to pass a motion at city hall to investigate the lack of transparency and anti-black structures of the Toronto police’s Special Investigations Unit. Afro-fest was restored to two days. And Premier Kathleen Wynne committed to having a public meeting with us.

As the movement gained traction, I became increasingly visible and increasingly the target of those who oppose our cause. Jerry Agar, a Toronto Sun columnist with a long, well-documented record of enmity to our anti-racist goals, attempted to use my visibility to discredit me. A day after the conclusion of #BLMTOtentcity, he cited the aforementioned tweet in an attempt to delegitimize an entire movement, and to position my community as undeserving of justice.

I am not a public official. I am not a police officer. The state does not entrust me with violent weaponry. I have never contributed to the mass targeting of a community. All I have done is used a turn of phrase, a rhetorical flourish, to voice my frustration and dared to be a person calling for justice.

To date, I have directly received many disturbing death threats from white supremacists across the country. Somehow a tweet I wrote out of anger months before our protest began has become a bigger media story than our protest’s many and profound accomplishments. The noise surrounding this tweet has also drowned out the discussion we sought to spark about the black lives of those who have died at the guns of police in this country. Journalists have incessantly harassed me, desperate to get a comment on the tweet. Where were they during the entire two weeks of #BLMTOtentcity? The media is part and parcel of how anti-black racism works. Too often black people are ignored or vilified when we speak the truth about our condition.

To be black in Toronto is to have been or know somebody who has been brutalized, violated or battered by the Toronto police. Our lives are plagued by institutional and individual anti-black racism that compromises our access to safety, economic freedom, proper health care, food, housing, employment, education and culturally restorative support services. To be black in this city is to fight to survive.

Mayor John Tory responded to reports of my tweet less than 24 hours after they emerged. Yet for the more than two weeks black people fought for our humanity in protest outside of police headquarters, he ignored us. That is something everyone in this city should be concerned about. Despite all the violence we endure when we resist, we can never lose sight of the issues; we must continue to seek justice and accountability for our community. We only have more work to do, and this is only the beginning. Black lives matter, here as everywhere, and they always will.

Yusra Khogali, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Toronto, is a community organizer, anti-racism educator and black feminist poet. She is also a graduate student at the University of Toronto pursuing a master’s in Social Justice Education.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Leaked Email Shows Kathleen Wynne Downplaying 'Systemic Racism' Comments to Cops

Wynne said her remarks refer to child welfare, graduation rates and incarceration, not policing.

Ontario cops were pissed last week when Premier Kathleen Wynne told Black Lives Matter Toronto protesters "we still have systemic racism in our society." So pissed, they reached out to her demanding she clarify whether or not she was saying cops are racist.

In an email obtained by VICE, Ontario Provincial Police Association (OPPA) President Rob Jamieson told OPP members that the OPPA board of directors was "very clear with both the Premier's Office and representatives from [Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services] on what action we would take should they not address this matter appropriately."

When reached by VICE, the OPPA said by "action" it meant it was prepared to publicly call out Wynne on her comments. But that's no longer necessary because Wynne has since made it clear (to the cops) she wasn't talking about police when she mentioned "systemic racism."

"Each and every day police officers across Ontario do everything they can to keep us safe... Their contribution to building safer, strong communities can be seen across our province and I am proud to stand with them," reads a quote from Wynne, included in Jamieson's email.

According to the email, Wynne sent a response to the OPPA, Police Association of Ontario, the Toronto Police Association, and the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police. In it, she explains that by "systemic racism," she was talking about the prevalence of visible-minority children represented in the child welfare system and lagging graduation rates and higher incarceration rates amongst black and aboriginal youth.

Continue Reading.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

I was vilified for telling the truth about racism in Toronto

A co-founder of Black Lives Matter Toronto considers why the controversy over a months-old tweet she wrote has drowned out the accomplishments of her movement

To be a black Muslim woman in Toronto is to feel deep isolation, the result of omnipresent systemic anti-black, patriarchal and Islamophobic discrimination. It is to be under constant attack. To see bodies like mine ignored in the news when they suffer, when they disappear and when they die, unjustly.

Evidently some do not believe this is true. During Black History Month, I was bombarded by tweets from white men asking me to prove that racism, Islamophobia and misogyny exist. Why should I have to prove the existence of the forces that torment me and members of my community to people who don’t believe they exist and, worse, who perpetuate them? And so two months ago I tweeted, “Plz Allah give me strength not to cuss/kill these men and white folks out here today.” I put my rage and trauma into words, not action, not threat. Faced with hate, I sought restraint from god and support from my online community.

Fast forward to now. Black Lives Matter Toronto, a movement I cofounded, camped outside the police headquarters for two weeks through incredibly difficult weather conditions fighting for justice against the attack on black life in Toronto. The protest was prompted by the police shooting of Andrew Loku, a man armed only with a hammer, and the lack of transparency that followed. We have been calling for an end to anti-black racism in all institutions, from the racist practice of carding to the lack of accountability, transparency and oversight of police officers who kill black people in this city. And we got results. In two weeks, we convinced city councillors to pass a motion at city hall to investigate the lack of transparency and anti-black structures of the Toronto police’s Special Investigations Unit. Afro-fest was restored to two days. And Premier Kathleen Wynne committed to having a public meeting with us.

As the movement gained traction, I became increasingly visible and increasingly the target of those who oppose our cause. Jerry Agar, a Toronto Sun columnist with a long, well-documented record of enmity to our anti-racist goals, attempted to use my visibility to discredit me. A day after the conclusion of #BLMTOtentcity, he cited the aforementioned tweet in an attempt to delegitimize an entire movement, and to position my community as undeserving of justice.

I am not a public official. I am not a police officer. The state does not entrust me with violent weaponry. I have never contributed to the mass targeting of a community. All I have done is used a turn of phrase, a rhetorical flourish, to voice my frustration and dared to be a person calling for justice.

To date, I have directly received many disturbing death threats from white supremacists across the country. Somehow a tweet I wrote out of anger months before our protest began has become a bigger media story than our protest’s many and profound accomplishments. The noise surrounding this tweet has also drowned out the discussion we sought to spark about the black lives of those who have died at the guns of police in this country. Journalists have incessantly harassed me, desperate to get a comment on the tweet. Where were they during the entire two weeks of #BLMTOtentcity? The media is part and parcel of how anti-black racism works. Too often black people are ignored or vilified when we speak the truth about our condition.

To be black in Toronto is to have been or know somebody who has been brutalized, violated or battered by the Toronto police. Our lives are plagued by institutional and individual anti-black racism that compromises our access to safety, economic freedom, proper health care, food, housing, employment, education and culturally restorative support services. To be black in this city is to fight to survive.

Mayor John Tory responded to reports of my tweet less than 24 hours after they emerged. Yet for the more than two weeks black people fought for our humanity in protest outside of police headquarters, he ignored us. That is something everyone in this city should be concerned about. Despite all the violence we endure when we resist, we can never lose sight of the issues; we must continue to seek justice and accountability for our community. We only have more work to do, and this is only the beginning. Black lives matter, here as everywhere, and they always will.

Yusra Khogali, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Toronto, is a community organizer, anti-racism educator and black feminist poet. She is also a graduate student at the University of Toronto pursuing a master’s in Social Justice Education.