Yesterday a young Black woman posted on Facebook about a violent arrest by Halifax police officers after she was falsely accused of shoplifting at the Mumford Road Walmart. There is a rally in her support on Friday January 16, at 5 PM.
Racist street checks may have stopped, but overbearing police interactions with Black Haligonians continue.
Fairly often poor people in Halifax get stopped by police and private security guards for involuntary behaviour such as fidgeting and staring at people, behaving as if intoxicated, and talking to themselves in public. In a follow up on earlier stories Kendall Worth spoke with people who submitted formal complaints with police, mall management and even the Human Rights commission.
Some 30 protesters rallied at the Gottingen Street police station this afternoon, demanding an end to police brutality and anti-Black racism. The immediate reason for the rally was the violent arrest and pepper spraying of a Black man on Quinpool Road by Halifax police.
New police powers allow for impaired driving tests without a valid reason to believe that drivers are actually impaired, and that spells trouble for Black Nova Scotians, a lawyer says.
After so many meaningless apologies and promises by police chiefs and governments over the years it will take a lot more to regain the trust of African Nova Scotians than yet another apology, writes Raymond Sheppard. “It seems that the HRP to this day is a hotbed of racism, and there is a strong need to clean house.”
Judy Haiven spends a say in court, attendiing the case of two police constables accused with negligence in the death of Corey Rogers, a 41 year old man whose crime had been drunkenness in a public place.
Street checks are banned in Nova Scotia, and Halifax Police is set to issue an apology. This is a good thing. But unfortunately you can’t ban racism, and Monday’s Board of Police Commissioners showed we have a long way to go.
Judy Haiven: “In Toronto, the protesters and police allowed bike and pedestrian traffic over the blocked bridge. Why couldn’t Halifax police do this?”
Kendall Worth with more on the ongoing harassment of poor people and people with disabilities by police ans security guards.