At the risk of overgeneralizing, it is easy to see why a reactionary institution like the police live in a Manichean, bifurcated world, where the law of the jungle demands, “You are either for us, or you are against us.” Even though such a world view d…
Continue readingTag: unjustified police shootings
Politics and its Discontents: Wouldn’t A Taser Have Been More Appropriate?
I have often thought that had the video evidence not been so strong and graphic in the shooting of Sammy Yatim, the ‘official’ police story would have been that the disturbed 18-year-old had lunged at officers and thus had to be killed. What the video apparently showed, however, was 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
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 reading