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News & Editorial

The Importance of Toronto’s Africentric Alternative School

by TDOT-J on March 30, 2011

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

For further reading please visit these links:

Official Website of the Africentric Alternative School

The African Heritage Educators’ Network

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KKK Costume Worn By Police to Costume Party

by TDOT-J on November 23, 2010

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.

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Official Oppression – Charging the Cops!

by TDOT-J on September 28, 2010

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.

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Strength in Unity – To Victims of Toronto G20

by TDOT-J on July 29, 2010

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.

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Another Baby Dead At The Hands Of Our Broken Police

by TDOT-J on May 24, 2010

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.

Rest In Peace Aiyana Jones.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/She-Has-A-Name-Aiyana-Jones/122734241085128

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Acceptable Restitution? A Nation For First Nations

by TDOT-J on April 20, 2010

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.

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5 Reasons Why Mumia Abu-Jamal Should Be Free

by TDOT-J on April 6, 2010

* 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

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Sébastien’s Law – Dealing With Canada’s Young Offenders

by TDOT-J on March 21, 2010

The answer is not to throw away a child's life

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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Supervising Our Police

by TDOT-J on March 3, 2010

It’s 2010 and we have cameras on absolutely every gadget we own! Then why has it taken so long to decide that we should put them in metro’s police cars? After an extensive piloting project by Toronto Police Services, it has finally been determined that the ICCS (In Car Camera System) dash cam and mic would be beneficial addition to the force. Aside from providing additional information to crime scene investigators, it could be very useful as court evidence for victims of police misconduct.

According to Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit, the number of reported occurrences of police misconduct resulting in injury or death in Ontario, has been steadily increasing since 2004. Police dash cams have proven to be a valuable witness that presents a precise, just and unbiased account of events. They should definitely be a standard requirement of any police force in North America; where our police system is still flawed and filled with deceit. Of course dash cameras are still only a band aid to a much larger problem.

San Jose's new officer cam

In an attempt to step back and address the larger issue of police misconduct on a whole, Canada’s Senate Security Committee release a position paper dealing with the overseeing of police services. The 102 page report calls for similar methods to be used in Canada as being piloted right now in San Jose, CA. Since December ’09, members of San Jose’s police department have participated in a project where a small, audio-video earpiece records each individual officer as they go on about their duties.

This method and device are long overdue considering the history of police misconduct and corruption throughout Canada and the United States. Vancouver, BC has volunteered to pilot a similar program with its officers, but it has been reluctant to assign a date for commencement. It is paramount that we make these devices mandatory for all police departments. The implementing of such a project would certainly be the logical first step in protecting the security of our citizens and ending a terrible reign of terror brought on by those who are there to protect us.

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Proactive Government? Alberta’s 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness

by TDOT-J on February 24, 2010

You need not be a mathematician, historian or English professor to know that ‘proactive government’ equals a big oxymoron. But finally, it pleases me to say that our society may be showing a hint of civilization after all. Since 2008, the provincial government of Alberta has heavily invested in affordable housing for what is part of an attempt to end homelessness over the next 10 years.

The program is designed around the housing first philosophy, also known as Rapid Re-housing. It is currently up and working in many capitol cities across the United States and has now finally touched down in Canada (Alberta and Vancouver). The idea behind the philosophy is to secure a home for all people currently homeless or facing homelessness. Providing a stable home is the first step in a long process which addresses all mental and physical health concerns, and provides free education in order to allow individuals the chance to regain control of their lives.

This program is absolutely necessary and long overdue. Unfortunately it will only work as intended if the assistance truly goes beyond providing housing and delves into the heart of each individual’s personal issue(s). Every year, conditions caused from homelessness claim many lives including children. Unfortunately, it is not only individuals that end up homeless, but rather whole families. No price is too great to pay to provide the gift of private shelter and practical social assistance to every citizen of our country.

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Church, State and Abortion

by TDOT-J on February 9, 2010

If religion preaches peace and prosperity, then why is the idea of a world without religion often thought to be the more peaceful when compared to our current state of affairs? Often religious lessons are taken out of context and the overzealous end up becoming the greatest sinners of all. Traditions and interpretations mutate overtime leaving a broken telephone effect of a misunderstood story.

The division of church and state is very important to us here in North America, and while we do see some bias towards religious ideals from our leaders and the national holidays we observe, we are still free to practice any religion and its rules at our own discretion. Those living in countries that are heavily influenced by the ideas of their archbishop, usually do not have such liberties.

One of the most controversial debates in state-religion control is the prolife debate. Since 2006 in Nicaragua there has been a zero tolerance policy towards abortions. If caught, those engaged in the process face serious jail time of 10-30 years depending on the circumstances. As a result to this law, women facing maternal death, or women carrying a baby conceived from rape are forced to carry the baby to term. No matter your opinion on abortion, these women are unnecessarily suffering.

Nicaragua is the sixth country to fully ban abortion. Religion is here to provide hope, comfort and understanding for those who seek it. The Buddhist philosophy taught by the Dali Lama says to keep your own beliefs close while keeping an open mind and always showing respect to the beliefs of those around you. We need to continue to promote the separation of state and religion globally; we all deserve to live side by side anywhere in this world as equals and without fear or oppression.

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A Tradition Of Racism

by TDOT-J on February 1, 2010

To begin to find the resolution of any problem, you must start by recognizing and understanding that there is in fact a problem. The infamous step one of any get-help series. We as a human race have been battling a cancerous problem that has been eating at our global community since the beginning of time. This cancer is known as racism and it is one of the largest pandemics that our world has ever faced; claiming the lives of billions throughout time.

Unlike many other cancers and pandemics, you need nothing more than genuine goodness to defeat racism. Racism comes from humanity’s instinct to form tribes and communities. Long ago, before travel and civilized intelligence, we formed these tribes and villages based on our similarities out of comfort and security. As centuries pass, we continue to study civilization and psychology and as our world becomes more and more accessible, we now understand that this fear of others (or the unknown), is nothing more than ignorance.

Education is paramount in destroying this pandemic, but many who are educated still remain ignorant. It is important that we also shed this ancient instinct, or tradition if you will, that keeps us in small family units. We must understand that we all have similarities that go beyond our physical characteristics and religious beliefs and that there is only one race in this world and that is the human race. Once we can grasp this concept, many of our world’s most devastating problems will cease to exist.

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Batons For Books

by TDOT-J on January 24, 2010

We send our doctors, lawyers and professors down an extraordinary educational path, before we can trust them to help us with our problems. No one would feel comfortable seeking care from a doctor who has been in training for less than year. So why do we then entrust the most important job in our community to people with little training and education. To become a police officer, you require no more than a high school diploma and good physical and mental health.

This lack of education murdered 258 people in 2009 in the United States; all reported deaths involved police misconduct. All of these deaths were avoidable had the police officers involved known how to react to the situation at the time. Ignorance and poor training leaves these officers with the inability to properly assess situations, and handle confrontation. Unfortunately, the victims of this broken system will always be our loved ones.

There is only one way to fix this problem, we need to educate our police forces. It should be mandatory for all those interested in law enforcement to take a rigorous post-secondary course. This course should delve into psychology, philosophy and mathematics. We need to build a police force that is interested in making the necessary moves to better our communities, instead of an alternate profession for those seeking excitement, power and benefits. Just think of the values such a police force would add to your community.

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Teach Us To Save

by TDOT-J on January 20, 2010

Since the collapse of our economy in 2008, debt has become a household word. The general public is almost expected to have accrued debt over the past few years. And as the economy strengthens, sacrifices will be made and debts will be paid off. But for many, debt is not a temporary inconvenience to be sorted; for many, debt is a way of life.

In school from a young age we are taught to count, to spell, even to draw and act. But why have we forgotten to add the most important aspect of life to the curriculum- saving. It doesn’t take a complicated survey to prove that our society does not live within its means. We live in debt and in fear of our bills, and usually we don’t act until the final hour when it is often too late. If we can treat money as one of life’s necessities and start to teach our children to manage it from a young age, we will be one small step closer in our fight against poverty.

Money management has always been a lesson taught at home, but what if your home doesn’t have the lesson? Living within your means is an integral part of any responsible adult’s life. You pay your bills and you don’t spend what you don’t have. Eventually you build up a security nest from your managed savings, and with those savings you pay for both the happy and unhappy events in life. We make sure that our children can build sentences, so why not teach them to build finances as well? Adding such teachings throughout the K-12 curriculum will not end poverty, but will lead to a stronger and more secure future for our entire society.

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Dispersing The Poor

by TDOT-J on January 18, 2010

Many people have referred to poverty as a mind set or a frame of mind. That is simply put for such a huge global epidemic. Think of poverty as a cancer eating away at the cells of our local and global communities. Over the past decade, a new world of communication has opened up to us, yet we still choose to ignore our brothers and sisters that are in need.

Did you know that every year the government approves zone changes that take down affordable housing to make way for new condominiums? What happens to the people who lived where these condos go up? Those who cannot afford to buy and those who rely on subsidized rental apartments must uproot their families and seek out alternative areas to live. Many just end up on long waiting lists.

This is a method taken on by many cities to chase families in lower income brackets further and further away; an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ approach. This needs to stop, and it is our job as responsible citizens to raise the awareness. We need to make the government pay attention to the needs of its people. It is important for us to recognize that stressful living conditions is a leading contributor to acts of desperation. The age old saying comes to mind, and I am not a man of religion so this will be paraphrased, ‘treat your neighbor as you yourself would want to be treated’.

Let’s work together and together we can conquer poverty one step at a time.

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