EDITORIAL NOTE: This letter is in response to a previous letter published on the Cornwall Seaway News website and for context, it can be found here.
We, like you, are observing events in Canada and the United States with disbelief and horror. Sadly, we are not surprised by what we have witnessed as police brutality is not a novel issue, whether witnessed in the media or first-hand. We were however surprised by the content of your editorial published on June 4th, 2020 in the Cornwall Seaway News. Your words serve to distance the Cornwall Police Service from racialized communities rather than bring us together, as you attempted to call for.
Things have not changed for many of us. In the law we have the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and our judiciary to protect those sacred rights. In practice, those hard-fought rights mean little when you feel disconnected from the community, whose institutions do not reflect you, your experiences, or your family. We feel disconnected as we feel unsafe leaving our home after dark, because of how people may react. We are disconnected when we are subject to sexist or racist comments at work or in public, but cannot afford a lawyer to file a complaint or the collateral consequences of voicing our experiences. We are disconnected when the diversity quotient in our institutions do not reflect the diversity in our communities. We note that your editorial failed to identify George Floyd’s race – BLACK – and only used the word “racism” once, attempting to shift the focus from the problem of systemic racism and focusing instead on your fraternity of policing. Respectfully, the role of the police is to serve the community, not yourselves.
You have attempted to make the point in your article that looters are no different than the criminals who murdered George Floyd. Let’s be clear: murdering a person is not the same as property damage. Buildings can be rebuilt. Goods can be recovered. A person can never come back. A Black person murdered at the hands of a White police officer serves to reinforce the violence of systemic racism. Threatening that looting will “come at a cost for you and your family/friends” perpetuates the retributive, violent form of justice that we are seeking to change. The community members of Cornwall would hope that you and your colleagues should be committing to this change. This is not the “right way” of justice – there is no place for violence within our police force.
We would question your claim of crimes being committed by “a few bad apples” and ask you to educate yourself and your brothers and sisters in policing about how racism is systemically rooted in our democratic institutions. Yes, there are officers who perform their jobs honourably and peacefully. But why does policing exist? Policing in Canada was created in response to racialized communities acting in a way that was contrary to the white norm. Consider, for instance, that our national police force (RCMP) was founded in response to Louis Riel’s Red River Rebellion. The RCMP was also responsible for enforcing the Residential Schools system, as they would accompany authorities to seize children from their families. One tragic and unacceptable result of this racist system, of which police and law enforcement played a key role, is the overrepresentation of Indigenous people in Canadian jails and prisons.
While we are also heartened to hear of the arrest of the officers responsible for George Floyd’s death, we are still waiting for justice for so many other victims and their families. Chantel Moore, who was killed by the RCMP in New Brunswick last week. Eishia Hudson, a 16 year old girl, was killed by Winnipeg Police almost two months ago. Both cases remain behind opaque systems of investigation, without the public oversight of the criminal justice system. These “neutral” systems often operate to shield individual officers from accountability, their crime seemingly less morally suspect than the crime of the person who died. Indeed, charges, let alone convictions, for officers are exceedingly rare. Inflicting violence on the community should not be an accepted part of the job of police.
So, in your response to your call: Yes. You do need to do better. True justice cannot come from a militarized institution founded to maintain the racist status quo. We are heartened by Cornwall’s peaceful Black Lives Matter protest on June 6, 2020. At that protest Mayor Bernadette Clement reflected on the murder of George Floyd and educated the public about the existence of systemic racism – we strongly suggest you educate yourself and your fellow law enforcement officers about systemic racism so that we can move towards a peaceful and just community.
Signed,
Neha Chugh
Yashar Tahmassebipour
Robert Vitulano
Chandler Thomas
Shunker Chugh
Michele Allinotte
Elizabeth Quenville
Kelly Bergeron
