“the mayor, the Toronto Police Service and its board have clearly declared black communities collectively a public safety threat”
Posted on May 14th, 2015 –
“We have yet to be provided evidence that carding impacts crime in any shape or fashion,” Rinaldo Walcott, an associate professor at U of T said at a press conference Wednesday. “We have yet to be provided evidence that the database developed from carding impacts crime and its resolution in any way or shape.
“We find this totally unacceptable in the age of information,” said Walcott. “We believe that by ignoring available evidence, that the mayor, the Toronto Police Service and its board have clearly declared black communities collectively a public safety threat.
“The only way to think of such a declaration is to call it anti-black racism.”
Walcott was joined by Anthony Morgan of the African Canadian Legal Clinic, Ryerson University professor Akua Benjamin, Pascale Diverlus who is vice-president of United Black Students Ryerson and a co-founder of Black Lives Matter Toronto and academic Chris Williams, a vocal opponent of carding.
The group is asking for meetings with new police chief Mark Saunders, Mayor John Tory and Premier Kathleen Wynne.
Toronto police defend carding — during which people are stopped and documented in mostly non-criminal encounters — as an invaluable intelligence-gathering tool and say they police high crime areas of the city and not by race.
... with pictures
... with sounds
... with videos
... with opinions
... that's shorter
... that's longer
What's on your mind?