Black Lives Matter Toronto

[Admiral Beez]

What about slavery? And compensation for blacks? I don't recall anybody compensating blacks for being slaves. Affirmative action is not enough we need an asset redistribution plan.

Canada did not have slaves. What compensation do you want from Canadians? We have asset redistribution, it's call progressive taxation.

Here's a fact: more black men are killed by cops weekly than the so-called France terror attacks. Why does society not talk about that?

Where? Not in Canada. What society are you referring to?

 

[PinkLucy]

Canada did have slavery, although it was before 1867 if you want to split hairs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_Canada and http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opin...story-of-captivity-in-canada/article17178374/

 

[torontologist]

I was born white as well but we need to recognize white privilege. If you are white you are automatically given a high status in society which is not handed down to visible minorities. I was disgusted by this and tattooed my left hand black so that I could stand in solidarity against the oppression of visible minorities and thereby cleansing myself of white privilege. You would be surprised how judgmental some people are. How many times have I been denied employment by racist white men who didn’t like my statement?

You all realize that this Jeff person is trolling you and not part of BLM, right?

 

[JWBF]

You all realize that this Jeff person is trolling you and not part of BLM, right?

Thanks for the warning, but I find great humour in the answers, IMO, canned rhetoric is standard for authoritarians/fascists or trolls. I was hoping for new material but alas no, pity.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Canada did have slavery, although it was before 1867 if you want to split hairs:

It's not splitting hairs. In the USA their founding fathers were slave owners, and much of their economy well into the later 19th century was based on slavery. This is not a similar narrative for Canada. Our founding Prime Ministers and Premiers may be been drunks and abusive/exploitative to our aboriginal peoples and other groups, but that's a separate burden our country must bear.

 

[W. K. Lis]

How far back in time do you want to go with the slavery compensation? Do you want the descendants of the Roman Empire to compensate for the slaves they got as the spoils of war? Or anyone even before the Roman Empire as well?

We should be going after those who support slavery today. Like North Korea or movements that create slaves from their raids.

 

[Admiral Beez]

When I watch video evidence of real, violent racism in the USA against black people it makes me mad. And in the USA where concealed and open carry is allowed, we need to stop referring to people as unarmed or armed, but instead to breaking the law or not and force justification.

Most recent examples are a school teacher http://news.nationalpost.com/news/w...tell-her-black-people-have-violent-tendencies and a personal support worker http://news.nationalpost.com/news/w...aker-as-he-tries-to-help-his-autistic-patient

I have to wonder if US law enforcement will begin asking for a law against unauthorized citizen filming of their activities. Sites like this must make the lives of the nastier cops more troublesome https://www.aclupa.org/issues/polic...observe-police/taking-photos-video-and-audio/ Which is a good thing of course.

Thankfully this is not happening in Canada nearly to this extent.

 

[riffraff]

No, actually we did have Black African slavery because while some Aboriginal people were enslaved, mostly they escaped and were deemed "ill-suited". And we didn't have a plantation economy so slaves were mostly used as domestic workers and tradespeople in cities/towns. Canada didn't abolish slavery, it was done for us when our British rulers "emancipated" the slaves, mostly because of slave revolts in the Carribean colonies. The British turned to indentured slavery from its other colonies shipping 'volunteers" who signed up because they were more manageable.

I'd suggest you consult a book by a Toronto based archeologist/historian Karolyn Smartz Frost, I've Got a Home in Glory Land. Its in the library. Its a long read which chronicles a pair of escaped US slaves as they make their way North and establish the first "taxi' business in Toronto, and investing their profits to buy property to help other escaped slaves establish themselves here.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Canada didn't abolish slavery, it was done for us when our British rulers "emancipated" the slaves, m

Because Canada didn't exist in 1833 when the British Empire abolished slavery.

Regardless, in my book, you get none of the credit, nor any of the blame, for the actions of others in your tribe/nation/ethnicity/religion/etc, including those who came before you. If Canada had slaves or not makes no difference, there is no blame or credit either way, I can't truthfully claim credit for Upper and Lower Canada's involvement in the underground railroad nor accept blame for the expulsion of the Acadians from Nova Scotia.

This is why I generally find apologies from contemporary governments for past wrongs to be inane. As a Canadian in 2016, I and the government that represents me have nothing to do with whatever a government or people in the distant past did nor with the morality of its day.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Upper Canada (Ontario) abolished the import of slaves in 1793. Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe had wanted complete abolishment earlier during his term of office, but couldn't get approval from the Legislative Assembly. By 1810, there were no slaves in Upper Canada.

Britain only abolished slavery throughout most of the empire in 1834. Took the United States of America to abolish slavery by presidential order in 1863, but took the 13th Amendment to its Constitution to do so officially in 1864.

To see
Abolition of slavery timeline
see link.

The real sad state of affairs is that although slavery is now abolished "in law" in all countries, but some practices akin to it continue today in many places throughout the world, like North Korea.

 

[JWBF]

How far back in time do you want to go with the slavery compensation? Do you want the descendants of the Roman Empire to compensate for the slaves they got as the spoils of war? Or anyone even before the Roman Empire as well?

We should be going after those who support slavery today. Like North Korea or movements that create slaves from their raids.

Lookup up Bond-Men and Indentured Servants.

 

[rbt]

OK this comment border lines racism. Albino African? If you had read my post you would have seen that I was born white but wasn't to cleanse a part of my white privilege and it worked, not 100 % but I'm not exactly privileged anymore like white people. If I didn't tattoo my arm I would have had a lucrative job but I chose to sacrifice this for standing in solidarity with oppressed minorities.

Yeah, Albino African. If you want to talk about white privilege, and you won't find anybody whiter than an Albino (by definition). They're quite possibly the most persecuted group of people on the planet. About 1 in 1500 Tanzanians are born Albino but, for some reason, the living are closer to 1 in 6000 of the population despite not having any significant added health risk (sunblock and added clothing). 3 out of 4 (thousands and thousands) are dead, mostly from violence; and that's optimistic as the number of actual registered albinos is far lower; they don't register from fear. White privilege my ass.

Tanzania is from from the only country like this. They're just one of the few that took the time to document it enough to start pressing charges and making it safer.

Also, that term, white privilege, is a ridiculously racist term. Nobody should have to be ashamed or afraid as a result of the colour of their skin. Frankly, I find it depressing that someone who's fighting for equality can so completely miss the point that skin colour shouldn't matter.

 

[rbt]

The idea of "rational discussion" as the solution is laughable. So unarmed black men keep getting killed by police because they are not "rational" enough. Right. That is victim blaming. That is racism.

No, rational discussion is sitting down with the local cops and helping them assemble new procedures to help de-escalate these types of situations that currently end as shootings. The job of law enforcement isn't going away; cops need to change behaviour. You're not going to achieve that unless you sit at the table with them.

What doesn't work is shooting cops in the name of the movement and otherwise causing the public to become desensitized, or even actively against equality goals (Trump is ridiculously more popular than he should be). So long as cops are viewed as the enemy instead of misguided individuals, nothing will change; just as when some cops view all black people as problematic it's a massive issue.

Frankly, the best thing minorities could probably do is apply in large numbers with qualified candidates to the local police academy; change the system from within. It's not a guaranteed fix but it's hard to see how that would make the situation worse; it's worth trying. The more diverse police forces (NYPD for example) seem to have fewer issues (per capita) of this type. Toronto police hiring freeze does not apply to under-represented minorities.

 

[rbt]

Does anyone have any actual information to provide for Toronto events? I don't do facebook.

Rally times, fund raisers, sit-in, candidates to elect (who is the BLM candidate in Ward 2?), politicians to write and the message to send, etc?

I'm not sure Jeff is here to actually spread word about how to help; or if he is he's not doing a very good job of it.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Who's the BLM candidate for Toronto District School Board (TDSB) Trustee for Ward 1 (City Wards 1 & 2), and Ward 5 (City Wards 9 & 10)? Or will they just continue to yell outside?

http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=7db02a4636a44510VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD&vgnextchannel=26fd028fb3784510VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD