The War Room

DOSSIER # 13 A: VIOLENCE, RACE, RELIGION AND FAMILY IN TORONTO

One of my favorite times of the year is New Year’s Eve. That night, after the bluster and hectic nature of the Christmas season where one can sit back, relax and reminisce about what has transpired over the past year and what one hopes will occur in the next. It is, for me, a time for family, friends, excellent food and drink.

On New Year’s Eve 2002, my then fiancée and now lovely wife met up with me around 3 o’clock in the afternoon at the NW corner of Yonge and St. Clair. After standing and talking for about 15 minutes in the magazine shop there, we made our way across the street and proceeded to walk south on Yonge St. We were in a great mood as we discussed what we would cook for that evening. Then, about a block down, my wife and I felt a wet, white wash come across our bodies. Someone had just…spit on us. We turned around. Standing about four feet from us was a young black man dressed in requisite gang wear/Fubu style baggy clothes, his head partially covered with a large hood.

“Did you just spit on us?” I asked. He looked at my fiancée and said “What are you gonna do about it you white b***h?” I took a step forward as his hand went under his shirt and grabbed something located in his belt buckle and jiggled it. He turned to me. “You want some of this you white b***h?” I could not see what he grabbed. He certainly wanted me to believe it was a gun he had in his hand and that he would use it. This was in broad daylight on the corner of Yonge and St. Clair in downtown Toronto; a family neighborhood. I like to think of myself as brave, but not stupid. I motioned for my fiancée to get behind me, preparing for the worst. I took a step back. He jiggled the object one more time stating, “You want some of this?” He then turned around and walked back up the street.

Shaken, we crossed the street. Our voices raised, we struggled over what we should do about the incident. A young, Portuguese couple with a baby carriage approached us, concerned by our expressions. We recounted what had happened just moments ago and questioned whether we should call the police. They said a similar thing happened to them recently and the police could not help. Without an actual person to prosecute, reporting it would be useless. A lovely couple, they wished us well and walked off. Filled with rage, I grabbed the phone and ran up the street in the direction of the assailant but found nothing.

Our New Year’s was not pleasant that night and I became grim and depressed for the next several months. I felt violated. I thought of all of the ‘what if’ scenarios that could have happened to my fiancée. I thought of writing letters to newspapers but then one wonders, what will that accomplish and what if the thug reads it and sees my name?
Eventually the anger passed and I incorporated it as another one of life’s experiences.

In Toronto there were seven separate shootings within a 24 hour period earlier this week. Unlike shootings that occurred in previous years, increasingly violence is happening in well populated civilian areas. One shooting was at Dundas and Church, just a few blocks from the Eaton Centre. Another was at Square One Shopping Mall during the day. More of these shootings are also happening in broad daylight. Some other unfortunate factors are also usually associated with the violence. More often than not, sadly, the gunmen are young black men involved in gang culture. Most of the victims are also usually black. Some say to acknowledge this is racist. I say to not acknowledge this is racist. Many civilians are also getting hit by stray or random bullet sprays.

When asked about the shootings Toronto Mayor David Miller did exactly as suspected. He put his neo-Marxist politically correct hat on and blamed America. On a radio broadcast on CFRB I actually heard him say that because of (America’s) ‘idiotic gun laws’ they were ‘exporting violence’ to Toronto. Mayor Miller’s comments are simplistic and defy logic. If Toronto’s laws worked properly it would not matter where the guns came from. Similarly, and this is something that even the most simple-minded child seems to understand, is that criminals are criminals precisely because they don’t obey laws. Mayor Miller does not want to deal with this because then he would have to deal with what many in the black community other communities already know.

The issue of gang violence in Toronto runs as an ever widening chasm. All of the statistics that politicians and statisticians come up with that say violence is on the decrease more and more reads like propaganda. While overall violent crime may be down, random acts of gang violence are up. This is what people are concerned about; that a random bullet might hit a civilian as they go about their business at a shopping mall, in a park or on the street. Similarly, Toronto city council does not want to deal with the fact that many of these crimes also occur in parts of town that are heavily populated by the black community.

Were it happening in one of the wealthy, white areas that Mayor Miller and his compatriots at city hall live in, they would not tolerate it. If Mayor Miller would listen to the black community on this issue as much as he has listened to the residents of Toronto Island over the airport expansion or Sarah Polley on issues of the ‘arts’, perhaps Toronto would have some headway.

Now, anyone who would use this to cast a pall over the black community to generalize would be committing an act of racism. However, to slide it under the table and not deal with it, is also a more insidious form of racism; a form of racism which puts liberal political correctness first and basic human compassion second. This is also unacceptable.

David Miller seems to want to take the second route, and like so many who have gone before him, not acknowledge the problem until too much damage has done, too many lives have been destroyed and too much real blood of the innocent has been shed.

This is unacceptable.

To be continued

PLEASE LOOK FOR PART B SOMETIME ON FRIDAY JULY 29, 2005

posted by Nicol DuMoulin @ 1:39 PM