A society of suckers!
You sit around and talk about your technology,
Your money, and the finer things you’ve done.
Don’t you understand? You’re playing to their pointed gun.
Running down an endless road and looking for your four leaf clover.
They say you’re walking straight, but you are all hunched over.
Spending money, making money,
Spending money, making money.
Are you happy with everything you’ve built?
Because it all looks just the same as the other guys stuff.
Like blocks in suburbia, it’s all the same shit.
And there is so much fucking suburbia!
An endless picture of absolutely nothing,
Ha-ha, it looks like you’ve reached your goals, now what?
And what are your kids gonna do? The exact same thing.
After all, it’s much easier to attack one enemy.
And I hope you know that’s you to them!
Well don’t take my life, fuck the money!
I am an individual, I have my own thoughts, and I walk how I talk
And I don’t necessarily give a fuck about what you want to tell me.
I am going to do my own thing. I am going to be me.
Your looking the wrong way baby.
Life is this-a-way! Be free baby, be free.
Back then they felt the wrath of our nuclear face
Since then we hit the world with our nuclear waste
And now we’re running fast, power pushing the pace
Is it hard to understand, we at the end of the race
Toronto’s Africentric Alternative school has been a topic of debate since before the school’s inception in 2008. The pro side explains that an African infused curriculum will better support and flourish the minds of children of African decent; furthermore, it will help preserve and promote African heritage in the province of Ontario. Those who oppose the idea, cry segregation and fear racial inequality problems in the city.
Toronto is one of the most diverse cities in the world, where 49% of its population was foreign-born. With a diverse array of cultures spawning across the city, multiculturalism is fully promoted and very visible. Many other communities have developed culturally specific schools in order to teach the youth of their specific heritage alongside the general curriculum. Just to name a few, you can find Catholic, Japanese, French, Greek, Jewish and Islamic schools within the GTA.
None of these schools have promoted hatred, bigotry or segregation in the city; in fact, the schools are officially open to students from all races and cultural backgrounds. These culturally specific schools allow the children attending them to further explore their heritage and identity, thus preserving many rich histories and traditions that belong to the many communities in Toronto.
While these schools play an important role in our community, it is also imperative to further develop Toronto’s general curriculum to include stronger multicultural content. The lack of such education in our schools clearly displays the remnants of a “once” racist educational system, whose goal was to ignore African heritage in an attempt to keep the public ignorant. If we do not make the necessary changes to the school curriculum, the result will be that we will continue to breed a society completely oblivious and dumb-minded to the second largest continent on our planet. Africa is home to 53 countries and its history is paramount in our society.
“Education is the discovery of our own ignorance.” – Will Durant
It is often said that we disguise our true selves by the means of a mask, but when wearing a mask, our true self runs free. This was the case at one Halloween party held by the Royal Canadian Legion Club in Campbellford, Ontario. During this year’s annual costume contest, members Terry Nunn and Blair Crowly, both former police officers, took home first prize for their KKK grand-wizard and lynched slave costume duo.
Nunn, Crowly and the supervisor of the event attempted to play down the racist act after the fact, saying it was an innocent, last minute costume idea. Crowly was quoted saying, “That stuff (slavery) has been gone for years and years and years. I don’t see why the reaction is the way it is. That’s so past tense. It’s a piece of history from long ago,” Nunn additionally stated “If the person who complained had of come to us and said we find this offensive, we would have left right away.”
It is no surprise that this terrible act of blatant racism came at the hands of former police officers. Once again, we have another example of how our law enforcement hiring/screening process is absolutely backwards; giving power to those most ignorant, reckless and destructive.
a sinister thought from a sinister mind
can you see my will, not dark but divine.
a collection of actions from a handful of time.
i try to do good, but my emotions are blind.
please forgive me, as i walk thru in the dark.
my unstable steps lead to unstable starts.
good deeds are damned, think head not the heart.
put feelings aside, good things fall apart.
take what you love and bury it deep.
fake friends exploit what they see as they creep.
most eyes don’t lie, watch them while they speak.
always on guard, keep one ear to the street.
the sensation of comfort, often feels fake.
nightmares take form, in my sleep and my wake.
knowledge transforms, reality is at stake.
make sure you have, if you don’t then you take.
i hurry a long, but don’t fit with the crowd.
they know not what they do, they follow the loud.
i’ve made my own moves, not all i am proud.
we all walk a path that ends at a cloud.
Clasped mind speak not, just sit back and follow.
Morph into known, one script to swallow.
Light coming down please catch me as I fall.
Burn up my soul, let the light paint the wall.
Freedom released, detain my difference.
Only one love, tell me who to reference?
I came to this land, a bringer of peace.
Fold to the power, they gave me a crease.
Anchored to smile is really a frown.
Break through their shadow, move not like they sound.
Refuse to trod like a sheep thru the snow.
A path of flame our chariots will glow!
Dark fog ascends as we conquer their quest.
Remember they came to bury our best.
Next time they silence the words that we speak,
Strike them much faster, actions less discreet.
Official Oppression sounds like a term that could go hand-in-hand with ‘Martial Law’ and ‘Police State’. In the wake of Toronto’s G20 policing disaster and with an alarming rise in police misconduct and brutality complaints across North America, it is hard to shake the sense of insecurity when you hear police and oppression in the same sentence.
In fact, Official Oppression is a charge that is laid against police officers and other public servants when they exhibit specific illicit or corrupt behavior.
According to the VTCA Penal Code, a public servant is guilty of Official Oppression when they:
• Intentionally subjects another to mistreatment or to arrest, detention, search, seizure, dispossession, assessment, or lien that he knows is unlawful;
• Intentionally denies or impedes another in the exercise or enjoyment of any right, privilege, power, or immunity, knowing his conduct is unlawful; or
• Intentionally subjects another to sexual harassment.
• For purposes of this section, a public servant acts under color of his office or employment if he acts or purports to act in an official capacity or takes advantage of such actual or purported capacity.
• In this section, “sexual harassment” means unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, or other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature, submission to which is made a term or condition of a person’s exercise or enjoyment of any right, privilege, power, or immunity, either explicitly or implicitly.
• An offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor.
With these laws in place, it is still common to see misconduct by government workers go unpunished. Even if a guilty conviction is made, sentencing is usually rather light. This year in San Antonio we saw a perfect example of this. During a traffic stop in 2007, officer Todd Burke repeatedly struck an unaggressive individual more than a dozen times in the head with his baton. After being found unanimously guilty by jury for Official Oppression this year, the judge handed down a sentence of only 80 hours of community service. This is a laughable consequence for such a vicious assault crime and gross abuse of authority. But, it is absolutely paramount that we do not lose hope!
It is our obligation as citizens and members of the community, to promote public awareness of the boundaries that the police force and other public servants must act within. We often overlook the fact that our penal code (criminal code) holds laws and rules that are to be upheld by even our police force. Unless we understand these laws and hold strong when calling out the misconduct within the public sector, as it happens, we will forever be victims.
One dark, cold night when I was working.
No, I didn’t feel the lurking.
Eyes were peeping and mouths were smirking,
planning pain outside my workplace door.
I heard the knock that caused a shutter,
but i thought nothing of it more than clutter.
Falling clutter, yes it must be!
Falling down the stairs on to the floor.
About my business I did continue.
Until a knock again flew into,
my open mind, and yes I stuttered
at the knock that came from my workplace door.
I did proceed but with some caution.
No noise tonight will lay me to my coffin!
I opened the door to foil the plotting,
there was nothing, just darkness outside my door.
Confused and dazed, the time was late.
I packed for a journey back to my gates.
And onward outside I happened to make,
when I heard a voice from around my workplace door.
‘There he is!’ the voice was rotten.
And then 5 men approached me soughting.
With their sticks and kicks my head was gotten,
but I gave fight to avoid landing on the floor.
Their long pursuit just did not end;
swinging fists, their way I send.
Just when I caught a glimpse of them,
my soul split and departed outside my workplace door.
Looking down on to my body,
this feeling of free I tried to study.
A lifeless corpse pressed down to putty,
laying there still so close to my door.
Who was this beast of few or many?
My life so worthless, a stolen penny!
Into their eyes a curse I send thee,
the police who murdered me outside my workplace door.
Toronto’s G20 Summit left a deep, permanent scar in the heart of the city. While some of the protesters may have been lawfully detained for endangering the lives of their peers that weekend, it must be understood that a majority of the citizen’s that were detained and assaulted by the enormous policing force, were victims of senseless bullying and unwarranted serial arrests.
Almost 1000 arrests were made in total that weekend by 11000 on-duty officers. Maybe the budget would have been better spent on training fewer officers more diligently on effective mass-crowd control? Instead, our tax dollars promoted acts that severely traumatized our sons and daughters, brothers and sisters and placed them in indecent, unbearable conditions comparable to prisons in war-torn, developing countries.
The pain that we have thus far allowed to be inflicted upon our fellow citizens must not be allowed to go without consequence. It is important that we make sure that every victim’s story be told and recorded so to deter such mob-style policing from ever occurring again.
IF YOU ARE A VICTIM OF TORONTO G20:
It is very important for you to contact office of the Independent Police Review Director and send them a detailed account of your encounter with the police. All submissions will be taken into consideration during the Independent Civilian Review of the G20 put together by the Toronto Police Services Board. This review will analyze policing tactics used in Toronto during the G20 summit. The e-file complaints page can be found here: https://www.oiprd.on.ca/OIPRD.Efile/frm_efile_1.aspx?LanguageType=English
You are also strongly encouraged to share your pictures and stories with me. I will be glad to post any submitted content from my readers. You can reach me at contact@newsense.org. It is absolutely paramount that every story be told so that those at fault receive their due consequences, and so that we do not to repeat or allow such negligent, incompetent policing ever again.
A&E’s hit crime show, The First 48, accompanies cops during the first 48 hours of homicide investigations. The premise of the show is based around the first 48 hours being the most critical time in successfully finding a killer.
Just after midnight on Sunday May 16, 2010, the A&E camera crew filmed a police raid in Detroit that will never air on the show. In fact, those involved are trying their hardest to ensure that no one ever sees the footage.
That morning, Detroit police began their raid on the Jones’ house, by throwing a flash-bang grenade through the window and shooting their way through the door. This grenade landed on or next to little seven year old Aiyana Jones, who was fast asleep on the couch. Upon detonation, Aiyana was severely burnt and then struck and killed by a bullet from the entering police.
In a ridiculous effort to point the finger, Detroit police arrested Aiyana’s grandmother Mertilla Jones. Mertilla was assaulted and humiliated and tested for drugs and gunpowder (all tests came back negative).
Mertilla was quoted on Tuesday saying,
“As soon as they hit the window, I hit the floor, and I went to reach for my granddaughter. I call her Malia—her name is Aiyana—because she’s my Mini-Me. My Mini-Me. I seen the light leave out her eyes. I knew she was dead. She had blood coming out of her mouth. Lord Jesus, I ain’t never seen nothing like that in my life. And my seven-year-old grandbaby! My beautiful, beautiful, gorgeous granddaughter! My goodness! What type of people? What type of people?
You can’t trust the police. You can’t trust Detroit police. You can’t trust them. You can’t trust them. They wouldn’t even let us go check on the other babies. They wouldn’t even let us go check on the other kids. They were so rude to us. And when I see y’all done killed my grandbaby on an effed-up [inaudible], then one of them said, ‘Oh, [bleep],’ and grabbed her up and ran out the house.”
A seven year old baby girl burnt and shot dead by police in North America. How many more children need to die at the hands of foolish policing and “mistakes” before we rise up together and change the system? I’ll bet this never even made your local six o’clock news. Don’t let it be your baby before you decide to take a stand.
My heart goes out to the Jones family on their tragic loss.
Nations To Nations - A protestor pleas for for the Canadian Government to recognize the needs of the First Nations community
Colonizing forces have spent more than 500 very controversial years developing in North America. Murder, destruction, rape, pillage, slavery, and displacement are all very real words to describe those 500 years. We often try to portray a mothering nation, always ready to aid in problems abroad with hopes of creating stability and shining responsibility; maybe we are only consoling the guilt of a history of violence?
The First Nations people of North America are directly linked to the land which we collect our commodities from, build our structures on and prosper with. They have been displaced a countless number of times and continue to be forced into seclusion. While there are many fighting for the rights of First Nations people, both inside and outside of the community, the idea of restitution needs to be much larger than is currently being discussed.
A problem is never resolved until it is properly addressed from the foundation up. To this present day we have placed plenty of band-aid solutions on the concerns of the First Nations community, but have yet to address their needs on a whole.
As ironic as it might sound, the indigenous people deserve a piece of North America to call their own. It should be a sovereign state for an exclusive, democratic First Nations government that is recognized by the global community. This government should be able to meet the needs of the First Nations people and address the issues of Native American rights in other nations.
I saw the comandante in the front window seat.
He looked on, but said nothing, as her face hit the street.
She lay, but not long; lots of strength so discreet.
She was strong, but in her eyes there was a spirit so sweet.
In the instant she dropped, I replayed it real slow.
How did they not understand, where she had come from to go.
I wanted to help, but again my courage lay too low.
So I stood there and just watched, like the others in a row.
* CLICK HERE to sign the official petition to President Obama, speaking out against the death penalty for Mumia Abu-Jamal, and all the men, women and children facing execution around the world!
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Help Free The Innocent
Mumia Abu-Jamal: public intellectual, community leader and victim of an intense police plot to hide corruption, at a time when there was no one overseeing police activity in Philadelphia. Since 1995, Mumia has spent his time locked down on death row at Greene, a super-max prison in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania. Regardless of his wrongful incarceration, he gallantly continues his creative community work, successfully shedding light on topics that are often kept dim and out of the public’s eye.
Police corruption is very real and happens often enough to be caught on your local 6 o’clock news. “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely” and that is just what officers in Philadelphia had, absolute power. It wasn’t until 1986 that the Special Investigations Unit was created and began to oversee and investigate into corruption and misconduct. Unfortunately, this came five years too late for Mumia.
Now let’s jump to 1995, 9 years after the inception of the SIU, the 39th District Corruption Scandal was big news. Investigations led by SIU and the FBI told a long time story of police misconduct that led to dozens of arrests of average beat cops to the DA, and even FBI agents who were involved in the investigation. The corruption at 39 and other collaborating divisions was very deep and could be traced back for years. And this brings us back to Mumia Abu Jamal.
Mumia had been charged with the death of Officer Daniel Faulkner. Faulkner was a cop with aspirations of continuing his education with hopes of one day becoming a prosecutor. Officer Faulkner was aware of the rampant corruption that went on within the Philadelphia police force, and along with others opposed to it, he tried to stop it. However, the corruption was very deeply rooted within the police community and proved too difficult to overcome. Faulkner’s knowledge became too large a liability for those involved in the corruption, and on December 9, 1981 (5 years before the SIU came into existence, don’t forget), he was murdered.
At this time, Mumia spent his time working for the community and following his journalistic instinct. Being at the forefront of many civil liberty movements, and being in the position of a renowned journalist and interviewer, he was well aware of the corruption around him and often spoke out about it. Being a very active community speaker made Mumia an excellent target for the framed murder of Daniel Faulkner.
5 Reasons Why Mumia Abu-Jamal Should Be Free
1. Arresting officers were part of a large ring of police corruption
2. Mumia’s appointed council was unqualified to handle a case involving capital punishment
3. The prosecution’s witness was a call girl who was a regular police informant
4. Court stenographer stated in a 2001 affidavit that the presiding judge, Albert Sabo, had exclaimed, “Yeah, and I’m going to help them fry the nigger” when speaking on the sentencing of Mumia
5. Mumia Abu-Jamal has proven himself a valuable asset of the human race, continuing exceptional, inspiring journalism from behind bars
A broken hour glass
Shines an opportune time.
Now there’s no time to fear
Go and follow the line.
A path of adventure
Leads abrupt change of mind.
Never follow your heart
All the weak living blind.
The door was never shut
Destiny holds a light.
Roam the dark hall of life
Eyes wide shut full of fright.
There’s no end to this game
And that’s just what I like.
Always make a next move
Trust your thought over sight.
When you hear the sand fall
Know it’s your time to go.
There’s no time to half step,
Trust yourself and let go.
Life is but a party
And one day you wont show.
Make the most of your life
Move, smile, learn, love and grow.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, is coming through with an election-time promise to crack down on youth crime. Changes to Canada’s Youth Act are being proposed in order to further ensure that the system has an easier time charging, convicting and sentencing our youth in trouble. The proposed changes are being referred to as Sébastien’s Law, named after Sébastien Lacasse, who was killed in 2004. It was decided that Sébastien’s 17 year old killer was too dangerous to be tried as a youth and was tried and sentenced as an adult.
Some of the changes include:
1. Easier adult sentencing for violent youth offenders
2. A full disclosure of the alleged violent offender’s identity
3. Previous court sanctions can be taken into account for new sentencing
4. Irresponsible behavior becomes a chargeable youth offense
It has been officially determined by the Canadian senate, that juveniles are different from adults and therefore should be subjected to an alternative justice system. The rules set out in the original Youth Act are there to provide the benefit of an easy recovery for young offenders after being charged with a crime. Right now, identities can only be disclosed at the request of the crown, and only if the young offender poses a serious threat to the community. This allows for many young offenders to start fresh at 18, and not be plagued and judged by mistakes from their past.
Yet again, this is another blatant example of how the federal government tries its hardest to provide a false sense of security to its people. The new proposed amendments to the Youth Act will not decrease youth crime; on the contrary, we are making the juvenile rehabilitation process even harder. Should these proposed amendments become official, we are only tightening the gap between the differences in the adult and juvenile justice systems. The long term results of this will only lead to a larger number of hardened career criminals. Most operating with a sense that they have had no other path in life because of those harsh, determining judgments imposed on them in their youth.
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