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#defundthepolice in Hamilton has sparked a lot of backlash from communities that a)have not felt the oppression/violence of policing first and and b) think of it as piggybacking the crisis of racism in the US. Here's a thread on second-hand long term harassment by police
I remember growing up the police would be at our house constantly in the summer asking for my brother. He had never committed a crime, but they made a point of visiting to ask where his friends might be. He was a kid and these people made it their business to make him afraid
My brother is a gentle giant, and as an immigrant Black boy in Hamilton in the 80s and 90s he was very visible. He'd be bullied and harassed by boys who wanted to prove themselves. And police who thought intimidating a child was making their community safer.
I can't imagine the trauma he felt as a child. And as an adult, when he was the victim of a car accident (his car was hit by an apologetic older white woman), the responding officer let her go.
The second officer noted that it was impossible that my brother be held to account (she ignored a no right turn on red and hit his car from behind). But the woman was let go.
There's so much about those early days and this more recent one that anger me. Growing up afraid; being simultaneously victimized and criminalized. And the trauma that I known he still struggles with of having been that boy in a new world that seemed to conspire against him
As a Black man with a disability, I wonder how much of an impact police surveillance and harassment played a role in his mental health.
And I know that the decision of the responding officer made sure he bore the brunt of cost of that women's mistake. That officer's compassionate response ensured my brother, a disabled man with a fixed income would essentially pay for her mistake.
The insidious aspect of anti-Black racism in policing isn't just the devaluation of Black bodies. It's the unspoken and exclusive comradery of Whiteness. It's the implicit need 'to take care of your own' and not questioning who that is and why.
(I would apologize for the spelling and grammatical errors but I'm not really)
