Press release: Halifax Police chief Dan Kinsella owes an apology to the pro-Palestine drivers and their passengers at the Free Palestine COVID Safe Car Rally
Halifax Police chief Dan Kinsella owes an apology to the pro-Palestine drivers and their passengers at the Free Palestine COVID Safe Car Rally which gathered at the Saint Mary’s University parking lots on Saturday. The thousands of dollars of tickets (fines of up to $2,000 per person) that police issued must be shredded. And the one man (at least) who was handcuffed and arrested has suffered humiliation, injury to his self-worth, and a profound violation to his personal freedom. He deserves much more than a “sorry”.
Raymond Sheppard comments on the Gyasi Symonds human rights tribunal: “let’s not throw our hands up in celebration based on this one decision by the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission.”
Judy Haiven takes a close look at the human rights tribunal that found Halifax police discriminated against a Black man who was ticketed for jaywalking on Gottingen Street. “We cannot treat the police force in Halifax as though it has a few bad apples. We cannot assume that racism within the police — or any institution — is the exception,” she writes.
Len Paris, author of Growing up Black in New Glasgow, weighs in on the sentencing of Shawn Wade Hynes, the man who severely injured young Nhlanhla Dlamini with a a high velocity nail gun.
Media release: Protest coordinator, Angela Bowden, the Dlamini family and the citizens of Nova Scotia would like to see the court ruling for house arrest for Shawn Wade Hynes be increased to jail time to reflect the seriousness of the crime. The deliberate attempted murder on Nhlanhla Dlamini’s life was a violent, racist hate crime and it should have been treated as such.
Knee on the neck, the move used to murder George Floyd, is a frequently used policing technique in Canada as well, writes Judy Haiven. In the first three months of 2021, RCMP officers used the knee-to-neck hold (officially) 26 times!
Raymond Sheppard: “Many African Canadians are seriously struggling To see their efforts to pay for the bare necessities and try to keep up with utility bills and such is heartbreaking. Many have been forced to take out payday loans at unreasonable interest rates just to survive.”
Martha Mutale: “I learned from my ancestors to always speak the truth. I go to bed every night anxious about how to house my caseload of people, how to combat microaggressions, how to enjoy my life with my partner, how to stay present even though I want to imagine a world without this much chaos, violence, and neglect.”
Ray Bates: Recognition of historical Mi’kmaq place-name should become a common practice exhibited by governments and communities. History cannot be changed but it can be truthfully recognized with positive outcomes via respectful actions.