Given Sammy Yatim’s tragic execution by police for swearing at them and holding a penknife, and the shooting in the back of the unarmed Steve Mesic in Hamilton, I suppose the ‘mouthy’ young man depicted in the following video was ‘lucky’ to be merely pepper-sprayed for his ‘impertinence.’ Nonetheless, the
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Politics and its Discontents: The Police Are Such Sensitive Souls
Andre Marin, Ontario’s Ombudsman, found this out after announcing he was planning to investigate the province’s direction to police on de-escalating conflict situations in light of the police killing of Sammy Yatim. According to a report in The National Post, a Durham police detective, Dennis Scott, opened a Twitter account
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Sammy Yatim: A Guest Commentary
I received the following as a response to one of my blog posts on Sammy Yatim, the young man gunned down a week ago by the Toronto Police. Anon’s comments and insights are more powerful than anything I could have written: Sammy…I’ve wanted die…Only I was to scared to do
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Sammy Yatim: A Petition From Change.Org
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 readingMontreal Simon: Sammy Yatim and the City of the Dead
I've now seen all I need to see about the police execution of Sammy Yatim. Almost more than I can bear to watch. And like Rosie DiManno, more than enough to sicken me. I am sickened that a teenager with a small knife, who’d done nothing more hostile than shout profanities,
Continue readingThe Ranting Canadian: "Ah yeah, sure I know. It’s a free country. You know you…
“Ah yeah, sure I know. It’s a free country. You know you got the right. But I got a badge, what do you got?” That line from West Side Story sums up the attitude of many – if not most – cops, especially in Toronto. They are confident that their
Continue readingPolitics 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 readingMontreal Simon: Sammy Yatim and the Fatal Legacy of Stephen Harper
When I went by Dundas Square this evening after work, a march had already departed heading for the place where Sammy Yatim was killed. All that was left was a chalk memorial that the rain will soon wash away.But I will not easily forget what happened to that troubled teenager. Not only because
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Toronto Cops Killed 18 Year Old Bus Passenger For Not Dropping His Swiss Army Knife
Richard Hub Hughes-Political Blogger Our police are out of control right across the country. The latest fatality 18 year old Sammy Yatim was the sole passenger on a Toronto bus. He apparently was holding a Swiss Army knife. Of course he should have dropped the knife after repeated demands but what
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
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