A petition has been established at Change.org. seeking justice for Sammy Yatim. At last count it was closing in on 27,000 signatures. Here is how it reads: In the early hours of Saturday, July 27, 2013, Sammy Yatim was shot dead by a Toronto Police officer as the 18-year old
Continue readingTag: police abuse of authority
Politics and its Discontents: Sammy Yatim: One More Word
While I can’t promise this will be my last post on Sammy Yatim, I do want to direct you to Rosie DiManno’s column and a few comments from The Star’s readers that remind us of the real nature of this tragedy. Writes DiManno: I am sickened by the content of
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Sammy Yatim Killing: The Spin Cycle Has Begun
There is no question that the police and their supporters are desperate to ‘change the channel’ from the murder of Sammy Yatim to the terrible pressures police officers face. As I noted in a blog posting last evening, that organ of the right, The Globe and Mail, started the process
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Sammy Yatim Killing: Once More, The Globe And Mail Is Out Of Step
Thanks to a tweet from Dr.Dawg, I became aware of an odious, but ultimately not very surprising editorial from The Globe and Mail on the shooting of Sammy Yatim. I have written numerous times of how I view the paper as the organ of the establishment and the status quo,
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: New Footage Of Sammy Yatim’s Killing
The first shots are fired at about the 55 second mark on the video. They continue after he has fallen, his body jerking with each bullet. Sure looks like an execution to me, given that he clearly posed no threat to anyone, something the video also makes clear: Recommend this
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Standing Up To Police Abuse Of Authority
I remember a story my son told me of being in a coffee shop in Toronto during the notorious 2010 G20 Summit, about which I have written extensively on this blog. Two police officers came into the shop, one of them noticing my son had his smartphone out. He said
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Murder By Police?
Rarely at a loss for words, I find myself in that state as I think about Sammy Yatim, the 18-year-old killed just after midnight Saturday night aboard a TTC streetccar. As the video posted last evening shows, police, under no apparent threat, opened fire on the teen a few seconds
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: What Does The Toronto Police Force Have In Common With The BART Transit Police Force? UPDATED
The following execution by Bay Area Rapid Transit Police happened in Oakland, California January 1, 2009. This killing, aboard a Toronto Transit streetcar, was executed by the Toronto police. Any apparent differences between the two videos, other than the fact that the 18-year-old in the second one refused to drop
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Barriers
In my teaching career, one of the most powerful lessons for my students emerged from Atticus Finch, Scout’s beloved father in the novel To Kill A Mockingbird. A lawyer with a deep sense of fairness and compassion, Finch taught his children a lesson that all of us should carry in
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Insular World Of The Police Mentality
I have written several posts in this blog about institutions and their many shortcomings, shortcomings that seem directly proportional to their age. The longer one exists, the more prone an organization seems to becoming increasingly insular, self-referential, and self-reverential. One of the institutions most frequently targeted here is law enforcement.
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: It Certainly Took Him Long Enough
His Mad Face? Seasoned cynic that I am, I can’t help but think that Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair’s denunciation of police misbehaviour is little more than a public relations exercise. Almost three years after the G20 debacle, in which over 1000 people were arrested and a mere handful of
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Kafka, The Toronto Police, and Toronto Community Housing
“Someone must have been telling lies about Joseph K., for without having done anything wrong he was arrested one fine morning.” – The Trial, by Franz Kafka Last evening, I made a brief post which included a quotation from George Orwell’s 1984, linking it to a story from The Guardian
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Police Surveillance
Funny, isn’t it, that while the police generally favour video surveillance cameras as a way to prevent crime, they are not nearly as sanguine when the cameras are turned on them. Yesterday, Dr. Dawg provided a link to a story in The National Post written by Karen Selick, who discusses
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Our American Cousins?
One can’t help but wonder if Harper’s police force has been giving lessons to their American cousins in stifling free speech at right-wing political rallies. Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The West Virginia Police
There to Protect and Serve (the coal industry): H/t EcoWatch Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Why Peace Of Mind Eludes Me
Conventional wisdom says that as we get older, we become more introspective, philosophical and mellow. This story and the following video are just two examples of why that tranquility has thus far eluded me. H/t RKD Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Police Deserve Our Respect – When They Don’t Abuse It
Contrary to what one might believe reading my various entries on the police, I recognize the difficult job that they have, and I realize that they are often capable of feats of great heroism when they put themselves at peril to protect the public. As a retired teacher, I also
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Another Victory For The Star
As a direct result of their investigative series, Police Who Lie, The Toronto Star is once more contributing to the social good. The following is reported today’s edition: Ontario’s chief prosecutor will probe the issue of police officers who are found by judges to have lied in court. Attorney General
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Police Who Lie Under Oath – Part 2
Part 2 of The Star series on the problem of police lying under oath is available on its website. Today’s coverage examines the lack consequences for such behaviour, many departments seeming to prefer a see-no-evil, hear-no-evil kind of approach. And as per his function, the always pugnacious Mark Pugash, Toronto
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Police Who Lie Under Oath
The following suspects have walked free after officers lied in court: an accused pimp of a teenage girl, possessors of child pornography, a major ecstasy manufacturer operating out of a Scarborough house, members of an international data-theft and fake-credit-card ring, marijuana growers, and drug dealers carrying loaded handguns. Judges have
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