Commission condemns racist incident by Montreal police
July 31st, 2008
Racism rears ugly head
Stefan Christoff
Quebec's Human Rights Commission has slammed the Montreal police for racial discrimination in a decision delivered last week, stemming from a complaint filed by Gemma Raeburn, a respected black-community organizer.
An armed police intervention on a suburban street in Dollard-des-Ormeaux in 2004 is the subject of the recent decision.
Raeburn, who was awarded the Martin Luther King Jr. Legacy Award by the U.S. Consul General in Montreal this year, was clearing out garbage from the garage with help from two black friends, Peter Charles and Frederick Peters, when six white police officers screeched onto the scene. Raeburn and friends were mistaken for robbers by the police officers, who drew their firearms during the incident.
As it became clear to the armed officers outside Raeburn's home that in fact no robbery was taking place, Constable Roger Carbonneau told Raeburn that "bullets don't see colour" after Raeburn asked the officer if the police response would have been so drastic if white people had been clearing out the garbage.
"Given relations between the police and the black community, given that multiple unarmed black citizens have been shot by the police, it's clear that police bullets have been shot according to skin colour," explains Raeburn. "Clearly the findings [from the Quebec Human Rights Commission] are warranted. It is without a doubt that the police were actively practising racial discrimination outside my home."
Beyond the conclusions drawn by the Quebec Human Rights Commission,
the decision also recommended that $60,000 in damages be paid by the City of Montreal and the two police officers who uttered racist comments at the scene.
"This is an important decision, because it sends a strong message to the city that racist conduct by the police is unacceptable," explains Fo Niemi, director of the Center for Research-Action on Race Relations
(CRARR), who backed the original submission to the Quebec Human Rights Commission. "Sadly there are many black citizens in Montreal who are hassled or even killed by the police and receive no justice, which essentially means that full rights and freedoms for black people don't exist."
My mother grew up in Little Burgundy. She's now 70, and has been telling me racial-horror-stories my entire life.
I've of course had my own dealings with racism and prejudice.
Racial discrimination is nothing new to the Black Community (nor is it new to any other visible minority group), who, as the above article points out, has seen too many transgressions against its members.
Bullets do not see color. True. However, the eyes and brain and reasoning of the individual wielding the firearm do. There can be no acceptable excuse. But we continue to excuse these behaviours.
There can be no apology, either. Not when such circumstances continue to victimize our fellow human beings.
The city's too big. I am not a proud Montrealer today.