Angry in the Great White North

From the Toronto Star:

Decades after the civil rights movement fought for racial integration, a Toronto coalition of 22 black community groups disgusted by gun murders in the city wants a separate set of rules and institutions for blacks — from a government department to a diversion program for minor crimes.

The ambitious demands are, black leaders say, a turning point.

Fifteen years ago, you would not have seen so many in the black community "so frustrated that they are willing to consider this a positive — this formation of separateness," said Zanana Akande, a former principal and an Ontario cabinet minister in Bob Rae's New Democratic Party government.

Zanana Akande, in addition to being a former principal and former politician, was also a former subject of a scandal. She was briefly in cabinet when she quickly caught up in conflict-of-interest allegations and accused of rent-gouging in low-income properties she operated.

But she counts as a community leader.

Whatever.

These leaders are frustrated, and understandably so:

"We're not calling it segregation," said Sandra Carnegie-Douglas, president of the Jamaican Canadian Association and a coalition spokeswoman.

"We know what we need. We live it. We attend the funerals. We deal with the dropouts and the children expelled from school. As it stands now, our communities are, in many ways, being destroyed."

Gun deaths have ravaged Toronto's black community more than ever this summer. Out of more than 60 homicides this year, a record 41 have involved a firearm. Black community leaders say "90 per cent" have involved blacks.

Here's what they want:

• A court diversion program for blacks who commit minor offences.


• An economic development agency for blacks.


• A skills training and employment access program focused on blacks.


• Police to keep race-based statistics.


• Repeal of the zero-tolerance school discipline policy, which the Ontario Human Rights Commission is investigating for accusations that it deals more harshly with blacks.


• A federal-provincial and cross-border task force to address trafficking in weapons and drugs.


• An independent civilian review of police misconduct.


• A halt to a large youth detention facility planned for Brampton, which it calls a "superjail."

The coalition also supports calls for a black-focused school and envisions a vibrant African-Canadian cultural centre.

A community within a community, treated differently when they commit infractions in school, or crimes in the community, and no jails, and institutionalized suspicion of the police.

I can only imagine the frustration within this community to suggest these changes in the justice system. But I don't think they've thought it through.

This might shock you, but I agree with them. Maybe its about time society stopped being colour-blind.

Notice I said "society", not "the justice system".

You can't expect the population at large to be colour-blind, then suddenly blink and say "Hey, you're black!" when something bad happens, and begin to act differently. If we are going to be treating blacks differently inside the justice system, we're going to be treating them differently outside the justice system.

When you think about it, there is no "inside" or "outside".

So expect "Hey, you're black!" to be the reaction all the time. How about a metal detector built into a convenience store entrance and locking the door, engaged by the clerk when he sees a "suspicious" customer approaching?

Illegal? I don't see why? If justice is no longer blind, why should we be?

A side issue: Who is black, by the way? Maybe we can learn from the South Africans about this:

Minor officials would administer tests such as the pencil test (testing the curliness of hair) to determine if someone should be categorised coloured or black, or coloured or white.

I mean, let's be serious, government resources are not infinite. If we're going to pay for separate schools and separate justice and separate punishment and separate training and economic development, we have to be sure we spend the resources where those resources are required, and that this special treatment isn't wasted on non-black people who clearly could not benefit from it. Imagine if a person who is technically white is given skills training instead of a stiff jail term for a drug or weapons charge.

What a waste of time and money that would be.

[I wonder if these community leaders are taking marching orders, as it were, from these guys. Another look at the same story by Moorewatch.]