In 2016, city council needs to ante up on race issues
Last year, rapper and singer Azealia Banks tweeted her frustration about white rappers who had remained silent about the police killings of black men like Eric Garner and Mike Brown. “Black Culture is cool, but black issues sure aren’t huh?” wrote Banks, who is black. Toronto city councillor Norm Kelly proved Banks’ point this year by chiming in on a Twitter feud between two rap superstars, and becoming an overnight social media sensation.
Many have noted the grating irony that Kelly (you may know him as “6Dad”) isn’t using his growing profile to highlight discrimination against black people, who have created and sustained the hip hop culture he’s ridden to sudden fame. This is true, but it makes Kelly no different from the vast majority of his council colleagues, who are all but silent on many serious challenges that black Torontonians face.
Police carding, the practice of stopping civilians in public and documenting their personal information, has arguably been the most contentious political issue of 2015. Instead of speaking out against carding’s disproportionate use against blacks and other racialized groups, councillors have hidden behind the ineffective police services board and declined to comment. Ward 2 councillor and former mayor Rob Ford has eagerly filled the void left by his colleagues, and taken several opportunities to speak in support of carding.
News reports throughout the calendar year featured numerous instances of black people being needlessly accosted, intimidated, beaten and arrested by local police. A Toronto cop shot and killed Andrew Loku, a 45-year-old father of five who was holding a hammer; LeeLee Davis was handcuffed for 15 minutes for an alleged traffic violation; Michael Duru, 19, videotaped an encounter during which police rushed him — he was subsequently charged with assaulting police. Two officers attempted to bully Mike Miller, 36, as he filmed their activities in a public parking lot.
Video documentation and widespread media coverage of many of these events has not moved councillors to speak up. They dare not even offer the politically timid language of “concern” about patterns of police mistreatment of black lives. They have been notably absent at rallies and protests to draw attention to the abuses.
When black communities dance along Lake Shore Boulevard in bright costumes, receive help from a charity, or benefit from a city program, councillors appear for handshakes and selfies. When we talk about anti-black racism and systemic exclusion, local politicians are as reliable as a streetcar in a blizzard.
Kelly’s posturing is so annoying because he’s down with black slang and music, but silent about our pain. He says he gained his new-found fame by becoming “reasonably conversant with the lifestyle and language of the next generation of leaders and, frankly, I take pride in being accepted by them.”
Does Kelly really think our affection is so shallow and cheaply earned? Young black leaders would also appreciate if he told his 200,000 Twitter followers that, for example, our children are disproportionately apprehended by children’s aid services, suspended from local schools, and forced into jobs that keep us in poverty. Michael Thompson, the city’s lone black member, has distinguished himself in consistently speaking out about carding and police accountability. In April, 14 of Thompson’s colleagues signed a letter he wrote to the police services board to call for an end to carding. Most of those councillors have since failed to use their platforms as elected officials to discuss carding, or the larger issue of anti-black racism in Toronto.
Many of us feared the wilful ignorance about racism would continue under Mayor John Tory, who infamously denied the existence of white privilege during the 2014 mayoral campaign.
After a year of documented anti-black police brutality, studies showing unequal outcomes for blacks and the inspiring rise of Black Lives Matter Toronto, most of our politicians are still afraid to voice our suffering, or to provide opportunities for us to do so.
Toronto rap legend Kardinal Offishall noted in October that Canadians, including our politicians, like to avoid discussions about racism.
He added, “It’s difficult for me to say that I would want the politicians to really start speaking about it, unless they’re actually going to do something about it.”
Put another way, in 2016 Toronto’s politicians need to follow the instructions of my favourite rap anthem: it’s called “Ante Up.”
Mayor John Tory famously denies and is wilfully ignorant of the existence of white privilege in Toronto