I’m back

Okay, okay, I know….it’s been a while. You’re probably wondering what the hell happened to me. My last full blog was right at the beginning of the pandemic. I did have a little comment about Russian tennis players being banned from Wimbledon, and then by some divine intervention, a long diatribe from the All England Club and the Committee of Management of The Championships magically appeared on my blog, with my ability to delete it, mysteriously disabled.

Well, in case you’re curious, I didn’t perish during the once in a lifetime pandemic, that will probably show up a couple more times during our lifetimes. My absenteeism could be blamed on two things – severe writer’s block and political correctness!

Let’s deal with the first one. Writer’s block is a bitch! I also suffer from Distractionitis. I get distracted very easily, which is why I need to find some remote cabin in the mountains, with no distractions, where I can sit an type away, without running to the refridgerator every few minutes or putting on the television to watch just one program, that soon turns out to be the entire Netflix library. Also, admittedly, I need to stay away from Instagram and Facebook videos. I swear five minutes always turns into 1.5 hours of viewing mind-numbing, but somehow intriguing videos without me knowing where exactly the time went.

The second reason I mentioned was political correctness. Like many individuals, I was forced to pivot during the pandemic. Therefore I started doing some virtual events for some big corporate clients. This paid the bills, however it prevented me from churning out the sometimes politically incorrect blogs, that my readers have come to love…and probably hate. Corporate companies have absolutely zero capacity for scandal or any smear of anything politically incorrect. They cannot be seen to have any link to anyone or anything controversial. That’s why I felt I couldn’t blog and be the real me. I often write about racism and issues impacting the black community and let’s face it…the white corporate world doesn’t exactly give two shits about that!

But there’s something to be said for memorializing your thoughts on paper. Looking back on the lifespan of my ‘sane ramblings’ the first blog was published in 2010, almost fifteen years ago. It’s interesting to look back in time and see what issues mattered most to me back then, and see if much has changed in the following years.

Therefore I will endeavour to make a concerted effort to update this blog more frequently. As they say, the pen is mightier than the sword!

Jason Peat, 2:49pm, April 1st, 2024

Wimbledon Cancels Russia

It appears Russia’s illegal venture into the Ukraine has now impacted the ability of its athletes to participate in international events. Today the All England Club made the decision to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from the upcoming Wimbledon tournament.

WED 20 APR 2022 15:30 BST

Statement Regarding Russian and Belarusian Individuals at The Championships 2022

READ MORE

SOCIAL

On behalf of the All England Club and the Committee of Management of The Championships, we wish to express our ongoing support for all those impacted by the conflict in Ukraine during these shocking and distressing times.

We share in the universal condemnation of Russia’s illegal actions and have carefully considered the situation in the context of our duties to the players, to our community and to the broader UK public as a British sporting institution. We have also taken into account guidance set out by the UK Government specifically in relation to sporting bodies and events.

Given the profile of The Championships in the United Kingdom and around the world, it is our responsibility to play our part in the widespread efforts of Government, industry, sporting and creative institutions to limit Russia’s global influence through the strongest means possible.

In the circumstances of such unjustified and unprecedented military aggression, it would be unacceptable for the Russian regime to derive any benefits from the involvement of Russian or Belarusian players with The Championships.

It is therefore our intention, with deep regret, to decline entries from Russian and Belarusian players to The Championships 2022.

Ian Hewitt, Chairman of the All England Club, commented: “We recognise that this is hard on the individuals affected, and it is with sadness that they will suffer for the actions of the leaders of the Russian regime.

“We have very carefully considered the alternative measures that might be taken within the UK Government guidance but, given the high profile environment of The Championships, the importance of not allowing sport to be used to promote the Russian regime and our broader concerns for public and player (including family) safety, we do not believe it is viable to proceed on any other basis at The Championships.”

If circumstances change materially between now and June, we will consider and respond accordingly.

We also welcome the LTA’s decision in declining entries from Russian and Belarusian players to UK events to ensure that British tennis is delivering a consistent approach across the summer.

A Failing Grade in Battling Coronavirus

If this Coronavirus is practice for when the next deadly, high mortality rate, pandemic spreads around the world killing millions in its wake, then I don’t feel reassured or confident. As a matter of fact, there is one thing I’m extremely confident about – and that’s the government and health official’s ability to screw up badly and put all our lives at risk!

The World Health Organization, Center for Disease Control, and various governments around the world all get a failing grade on their mishandling of the Coronavirus. From the get-go their key concern was to minimize panic. Now, I fully understand governments must carefully balance the ability to provide public information without scaring us all to death. The last thing they want is a run on the banks, grocery stores, etc, sending spasms through the economy. That being said, as tax paying citizens, don’t we have a right to know when we need to take extra precautions?

From that very first meeting about a month ago when the WHO decided against declaring coronavirus a global emergency – in the face of the rapidly rising numbers in China – it became painfully evident a carefully orchestrated campaign of misinformation was underway. First they told us the N95 masks weren’t very effective in protecting oneself from catching the virus. Then they declared a concern over the shortage of N95 masks and other safety supplies. Well, if the N95 mask doesn’t work, why the hell are they concerned if there’s a shortage of them? Then two weeks ago they said it looked like cases in China were beginning to drop and the worst may be over. Then suddenly, overnight, China changed the way they counted cases and suddenly the numbers skyrocketed.

Then there was the usual BS, most likely propagated by pharmaceutical companies, that we shouldn’t be so worried about the coronavirus when the common flu kills thousands of people around the world annually. So what? Is that statistic supposed to make us feel safe. What they don’t want to highlight is the fact the mortality rate from the coronavirus is around 2.1% and the mortality rate from the common flu is around 0.1%. So if this thing does spread around the world and millions get infected, the number of people dying will certainly be much higher than people dying from the flu. You know what else had a mortality rate of 2%? The 1918 Spanish Influenza. It ended up killing between 50 and 100 million people around the world. So I don’t want to hear anything else about the seasonal flu!

Then there’s my favorite piece of misinformation – that extending travel bans doesn’t in anyway prevent the spread of the disease. Okay, I’m not a highly paid virologist or infectious diseases expert. But I do possess a questionably decent amount of common sense. So, let’s tackle this logically. When the disease first started spreading in China and the world realized things were getting out of control, if we extended a ban on flights to and from China, wouldn’t that stop have stopped or reduced the amount of people from China traveling all over the world and spreading the virus? In one of my recent blogs I spoke about the virtue signalling by liberals who claimed travel bans amounted to nothing more than xenophobia against Chinese individuals. Even though a travel ban is against a place not a people. Whether you’re Chinese, black, white, purple, yellow or green – if you were coming from China you wouldn’t be allowed into the country unless you were a citizen – and only after undergoing a strictly controlled quarantine process. But no, we didn’t do that. We continued to allow unfettered travel to and from China. We praised China for creating a cordon around a portion of that country – effectively trapping over 60 million people. Isn’t that a travel ban if people in Hubei province cannot travel out of the area and people from the outside cannot travel in? Health experts have praised China for doing that, saying it helped stop the spread of the virus. Yet these same health officials then tell us we cannot do the same because travel bans are ineffective. Aren’t they talking out both sides of their mouth? Look at Nigeria. Two days ago it announced its first case of coronavirus. And it happened to be an Italian who traveled through Lagos to another part of the country. As the coronavirus is currently out of control in a portion of Northern Italy, wouldn’t it make sense to ban travel to and from northern Italy? Instead this man traveled from Milan to one of the fastest growing cities in one of the fastest growing countries in the world. It wouldn’t take very much to spread out of control in a densely populated country like Nigeria, with limited health care.

And here in Canada where I live, I constantly hear the health minister and people from public health Canada talk about how Canada is well positioned to handle this virus – even after three new cases were announced in Toronto in just the last twenty four hours. They keep talking about having people self-quarantine. What the hell is that? You mean to say, a major health care policy in battling a possible pandemic is to trust people to stay home and not have any contact with anybody. Really? What if they’re craving a nice little tub of Hagen Daz?

I would like to apologize to all of the seemingly crazy people that I watched on ‘Doomsday Preppers’,  thinking they were a little bit crazy. Who would have known they are probably the smartest ones and we’re just a bunch of dummies!

WHO Declares Global Health Emergency

A few days ago, I posted on Facebook that I thought the World Health Organization’s decision not to declare a global emergency for the Novel Coronavirus was a mistake. A couple of days ago I blogged about whether we have actually learned any lessons from SARS – as the public health officials keep telling us https://jasonslyric.wordpress.com/2020/01/27/did-sars-teach-us-anything-at-all/.

Well, today the World Health Organization (WHO) finally did what they should have done a week ago. They finally declared a global health emergency. I still strongly believe the delay was due to an attempt to quell panic. Governments and International Health Organizations always weigh public information against public panic – possibly leading to anarchy and disorder and opt to keep us in the dark.

I’m not sure about you, but I’m a bit fed up with public health organizations and political figures telling us not buy into all of the disinformation and ‘myths’ circulating online regarding this coronavirus. The reason I’m fed up is because the government hasn’t really told us anything. And if there’s a void in actual facts and information coming from official sources, people will simply fill that void with disinformation and urban legends. Our Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau has never met a television camera he didn’t like. He’s the King of self-publicity and yet he hasn’t given a press conference or issued a public statement regarding this virus. Why not? Aren’t times of public fear the ideal opportunity to be a leader and lead and provide assurance to your citizens? I guess not!

So, make of this what you will. Public Health Canada are still telling us not to panic. Their advice not to wear facemasks is obviously falling on deaf ears because everywhere is sold out of N95 facemasks. Since the government is unwilling or unable to give us the facts, it’s left up to bloggers and concerned citizens like myself to do our little part to disseminate the facts. So here it is;

 

As of today, January 30, 2020, there are a reported 8200 cases worldwide. There are 7800 reported cases in China with 170 deaths. Keep in mind, yesterday, there were 6000 reported cases in China with 130 deaths. Therefore, in just twenty-four hours, there has been an increase of 1800 cases and 40 deaths – just in China! And please keep in mind this whole crisis just started a little over a month ago.

Today the United States confirmed it’s first case of human to human transmission – a Chicago man who caught it from his wife who had recently returned from a trip to Wuhan. In fact, there have been at least 8 cases of human to human transmission in at least five countries outside of China.

A State Department airplane landed at March Air Reserve Base, outside Riverside California with American evacuees from Wuhan. All 200 people onboard are being kept for observation at the base. The thing is, they haven’t stated how long they will be monitored. I would think the full two weeks would be common sense. But so far, a quarantine order has only been issued for one person from that flight and that was because they tried to leave the base. Therefore, that person will be kept in quarantine for the full two-week cycle, but what about the rest?

A British flight will be landing in the UK in a few hours with British evacuees. All the people onboard that flight will be kept in quarantine at either a RAF military base or a disused NHS facility – the British government haven’t clarified which one yet.

And of course, there’s Canada and our fearless leader Justin Trudeau. Yesterday we heard that Ottawa was in the process of acquiring an airplane to fly the roughly 170 Canadians home. But today the government stated there is no clear timeline. Why am I not surprised that our government often appears incapable and incompetent? We’re like a third world country with first world problems. Absolutely shameful. And knowing that we here in Canada have learned plenty of lessons from SARS, when we do finally get a plane to evacuate the Canadians, we’ll probably tell them all to go home and self-quarantine!

It’s ironic that’s I’m writing this blog from a Starbucks near my house and just today Starbucks closed all 2000 of their outlets in China. But, rest assured. There’s nothing to worry about. Our fantastic leaders have got this under control.

Hype, Hysteria and Misinformation

Okay, I admit that occasionally, I’ll happen to watch an episode of ‘The Social’. For those of you who don’t know its kind of a Canadian version of ‘The View’.  The show usually has a panel of four hosts who discuss current events, entertainment and issues of particular interest to women. I don’t always agree with their take or spin on things, but the banter is quite entertaining.

Today was one of those shows in which I found myself yelling at my television. The topic was the ‘so called’ rising xenophobia against Chinese people over the coronavirus. Basically, the hosts collectively agreed there was a societal mood of racism against Chinese people and to single them out specifically was indeed a racist act. At least that’s my take- away from what was discussed.

Well, as a black man born in one white industrialized country and raised in another, I’m particularly sensitive to the issue of racism as it’s been a daunting undercurrent throughout much of my life. That being said, I’m not afraid to call B.S. on accusations of racism that don’t appear to hold much water as I think it de-sensitizes us from the real and often hard to prove instances of systemic and institutional racism that our rife throughout Canadian, American and British society.

The conversation kicked off with host Lainey Lui, herself a Chinese Canadian, stating how she felt people were somehow weary of her or judging her due to the current coronavirus. Then host Melissa Grelo went on to do a somewhat ridiculous comparison between the coronavirus and the common flu. She stated how the flu kills 3500 people annually in Canada, and yet Canadians don’t seem to raise an eyebrow. Yet this new virus from China, might actually kill less than 3500 people and we’ll be going crazy. Melissa is right and wrong. Canadians should take the flu more seriously. But they certainly don’t need to take the coronavirus less seriously. If it turns out to be as deadly as SARS, the death toll for the entire country will be less than 50 (SARS killed 44 Canadians). The economic toll on the country will be devastating as it was for years after SARS. It took several years for tourists to start venturing back to Toronto. And that is the best-case scenario. What if this turns out to be a pandemic? What if hundreds and possibly thousands of people die?

And then the mood on the show turned sour as Lainey read out a Facebook post from somebody named Ruth. According to Ruth, she didn’t think the current mood was down to racism. She also suggested there should be a travel ban. The reaction from the hosts was to be expected – all of them were aghast at the comment. Melissa went on to mention how the term ‘Travel Ban’ harkens to Donald Trump’s racist travel ban. This is where I started to scratch my head. Come on now! How on earth do you compare a racist travel ban against Muslims to a travel ban to ward off a potentially deadly pandemic? Isn’t that a bit of a stretch?

Yes, I totally agree that during times of crisis we need to be careful that our fear doesn’t cause unwarranted and unjustified scapegoating of individuals or people from a certain ethnic group. Because if left unchecked, that fear can quickly escalate to persecution and xenophobic violence. But that is not what is happening in Canada. And I’m quite certain there are many Chinese Canadians who would be in favour of a travel ban if this virus gets completely out of control.

What Melissa Grelo, Cynthia Loyst, Lainey Lui and fill in host, Jess Allen fail to understand is this virus didn’t start in England, or Jamaica or Italy. It started in China. Therefore, if China and people who have recently come from China are now the focus of the world’s attention, isn’t it for good reason? What are we supposed to do, pretend the virus doesn’t originate in China? Maybe we should just pretend it’s really from the United States. Or even better yet, it came from Mexico via an illegal immigrant from Honduras, trying to circumnavigate Trump’s nonexistent border wall. It’s absurd.

And people most definitely have the right to be concerned that flights from China seem to be coming in unchecked as was apparently the situation with the first case in Canada. That person wasn’t feeling well on a plane, on his way back from Wuhan and yet somehow managed to pass through Customs. Now his wife also has the coronavirus. And today we learned British Columbia has its first case and it’s a person who recently returned from China. So, are we just supposed to ignore where he returned from? Really?

On Monday, both Germany and Japan announced cases of the coronavirus in which people who hadn’t been to China caught the virus……………from people who had recently been to China. The virus is now in over 16 countries and the numbers are increasing rapidly.

Just today United Airlines announced a significant decline in demand for flights to China and will temporarily suspend flights between the US and Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai. In fact, speaking of Hong Kong. Its leader Carrie Lam announced that starting on Thursday, train and ferry service between the Mainland and Hong Kong will be suspended due to the coronavirus. I’m assuming the hosts of ‘The Social’ will now accuse the people of Hong Kong of being self-hating Chinese people? Afterall, it must be down to racism they are doing this, right? By the way, Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam wore a facemask at the press conference in which she announced the suspension of ferry and train service.

I’m hoping the hosts of the view were equally up in arms when bans and restrictions were put in place during the Ebola crisis in 2014. I’m hoping they argued vociferously against Canada following Australia’s lead in instituting a visa ban for travelers from West African countries that were battling Ebola https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ebola-canada-suspending-visas-for-residents-of-outbreak-countries-1.2820090.

Several Caribbean countries including Jamaica (where my parents are from), Trinidad and Tobago and St. Lucia took steps to ban travelers from West Africa or put restrictions on them during the Ebola crisis. Was this down to common sense or self hate?

The hosts of ‘The Social’ are certainly entitled to their opinion. Sometimes I agree with them and sometimes I don’t. Such is life. And I can’t tell Lainey not to feel how she feels. But I think in this circumstance it helps to sit back and consider the totality of the situation.  Racism is indeed real. But this ain’t it!

Did SARS teach us anything at all?

Airport officials screen for possible cases of the novel coronavirus at Wuhan Tianhe International Airport in Wuhan, China, where the illness originated.

This current health scare known as the Coronavirus has prompted many comparisons to the SARS outbreak which occurred back in 2003. For those who don’t know, Toronto was one of the cities most impacted by SARS. In fact, 44 Canadians died from the virus, almost all of them in and around the Greater Toronto Area.

One can only hope that authorities will learn lessons and best practices from a tragic crisis and put these lessons and best practices into action should a similar crisis occur in the future. And that’s what we’ve been told about the current Coronavirus health scare. In Toronto, I have heard numerous public health officials and politicians talk about the lessons learned from SARS. They have assured us they have the situation under control and have protocols in place to ensure there isn’t a repeat of SARS. So far so good? Maybe not……………….!

A couple of days ago, we learned that Canada had its first confirmed case of the Coronavirus. And once again, it’s right here in Toronto. So, you may be asking, who is our Patient Zero? Good question. Apparently, it’s a man in his fifties who just returned last week from a vacation to visit family in Wuhan, China – the epicenter of the virus. His return to Toronto consisted of a flight from Wuhan to Guangzhou and then from Guangzhou to Pearson Airport in Toronto – where he arrived on Wednesday. On Thursday paramedics were called to his house where he was immediately identified as a possible coronavirus victim and emergency protocols and procedures were then followed. He is now being treated in an isolated room at Sunnybrook Hospital.

Then this morning we woke up to the news we have a second Coronavirus patient in Canada. And, drum roll please………………. it’s the wife of the first victim, who was also with him on his trip to China and his subsequent return to Toronto. But we also learned something else today, something a bit more ominous. The first victim apparently showed signs of the illness on his flight back to Canada. And as a result, Public Health Canada are desperately trying to contact all passengers on his flight who sat within two rows of him. My first question is why stop at two rows? If he coughs, do the spores just travel a certain amount of feet before they dissipate? What if he got up to use the washroom and coughed on the way? What if he coughed in the washroom and his germ spores are all over the walls, sink etc.…?

But here is the crux of my concern and my deep and growing suspicion we’re being fed a load of bullshit by the authorities. Repeatedly we’ve been told lessons were learned from SARS. Yet an idiot – yes we can quite clearly refer to this first patient as a complete and utter moron – was able to return to Canada, from the epicenter of this viral outbreak, feeling sick on the flight, and was able to pass through Customs without being screened for any possible contamination and allowed to go about his merry little way and spread this highly contagious disease to any unsuspecting sucker who happened to come in contact with him. We’ve been told the man went straight home from the airport and didn’t have any contact with anyone outside of his family. But given his poor judgment in which he decided to hide his health condition from airport officials in the first place, I’ll take his revelations with a grain of salt.

Please keep something in mind. The SARS crisis in Toronto was also started by people returning from a trip to China. And that disease then took hold in this city, killing almost 50 people. So, if Public Health were telling the truth and they DID learn lessons from SARS, they would have immediately started screening all passengers getting off flights from China. Yes, this might require a lot of resources and coordination and might be a pain is the ass to pull of. But I’m sure it’s a hell of a lot less draining on resources than treating a possible pandemic! It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that not all people returning on flights from China or anywhere else are going to be completely truthful regarding their health situation. Maybe they don’t want the stigma of being labeled a ‘virus carrier’. Maybe they are thinking all will be better if they just get a little bit of rest. Therefore, the government needs to come up with procedures to counter this and ensure nobody can slip through onto Canadian soil without being thoroughly screened for any potential sickness. And if this virus continues to spread and mutate in China, then we seriously need to consider banning all air traffic from China until this crisis is over. That’s not xenophobic or insensitive. That’s just common sense.

So as of right now we have two people in Toronto with the coronavirus……………and a planeload of people that need to get checked out quick. As a tax-paying citizen of this country I don’t think it’s too much to ask that our highly educated and highly paid public health officials prove they have learned lessons from SARS. Because to quote Judge Marilyn Milian from the People’s Court “I wouldn’t trust them if their tongues came notarized!”

What Really Happened to Dafonte Miller

I have to say, I’ve been closely following the trial of police officer Michael Theriault and his brother Christian, in the assault of Dafonte Miller. For those who don’t know, Dafonte Miller is the young black man who was 19 years old and the time of the attack in December 2016 in the Toronto suburb of Whitby. From the outset this incident caused a potpourri of emotion from anger to sadness that this young black teenager was beaten so severely, he lost his right eye. The senselessness of it all was what struck a chord. Being the father of a black teenaged son, who lives one town over from where this took place, I couldn’t help but think of how I would feel if that were my son who was attacked for no other reason than walking down the street late at night and being approached by an off duty police officer and his brother out to provoke some sort of violent encounter.

For those of you outside of the Toronto area who have no knowledge of the incident, several things about this case stink of police corruption. In the province of Ontario, we have the SIU (Special Investigations Unit). They are an independent (excuse me while I laugh hysterically) body who are called to investigate whenever somebody has been killed or seriously injured during an interaction with the police. In this case, they were not called Two different police forces failed to contact the SIU – Durham Region and Toronto Police, even though Michael Theriault clearly identified himself as an off-duty Toronto cop. It wasn’t until several months after the incident took place, while Miller himself was facing an assault charge from the incident that his lawyer contacted the SIU, who then began their investigation – months after the incident took place. Oh, and did I mention the fact Constable Theriault’s father is also a police officer and a long serving member of the Professional Standards Unit (internal affairs) – the very unit tasked with contacting the SIU when the need arises. So we can reasonably deduct from all of this, the police at the scene were involved in a cover up and then when the file landed on Constable Theriault’s daddy’s desk, he promptly shelved it and then went to take care of more pressing issues – like sourcing fresher donuts and hotter coffee!

All that being said, I’m a bit disturbed and troubled by what I’ve heard so far in the trial. Yesterday especially provoked some eyebrow raising moments. The two friends of Dafonte Miller who were with him at the time of the incident, took the stand and gave their version of events. And you would swear they were at two different incidents. Their accounts were totally contradictory to each other. And that’s the first problem, when you have an incident such as this you at least expect the victim’s friends to back him up if he is indeed telling the truth. If your two eyewitnesses tell two totally different accounts of what happened – then……….one of them is lying!

And first up on the witness stand we have Bradley Goode. He testified that he, Dafonte Miller and a third friend, Antonio Jack, were ‘car hopping’. Basically, they were breaking into cars and stealing anything valuable they came across. According to Goode, they had already broken into ten to fifteen cars that night before they got to the vehicle at the Theriault’s house. They attempted to break into a pickup truck in the Theriault’s driveway and that’s when all hell broke loose. Constable Theriault and his brother were alerted to the possible theft of their family’s vehicle and tore out of the house after the perpetrators. Goode and Jack ran in one direction, Miller in the other. The Theriault brothers caught up to Miller, and we know how that story ended. So that’s the account of Bradley Goode.

Next up, we have Antonio Jack. This might be a good time to mention that Mr. Jack was brought over to testify from prison where he is currently doing time for illegal possession of a firearm. Therefore, if we’re going to bring someone’s character into play…………. he’s not a good, law abiding citizen. Let’s not sugar-coat it.  Mr. Jack testified that he, Bradley Goode and Dafonte Miller were simply on their way to purchase marijuana when they were accosted by the Theriault brothers and that’s when the proverbial shit hit the fan.

And therein lies my dilemma. Because I’ll be honest. If this turns out to be a case in which Bradley Goode’s testimony is more reflective of the truth, I’ll be pissed! For me this totally changes the complete dynamic of this case. It will no longer be a case of an innocent young black teenager, minding his own business and getting brutally beaten for doing absolutely nothing. Instead, it will be a case of somebody out for no good and getting caught and getting what some people would call……………justice. Now this doesn’t negate the fact a police cover up took place. Proper procedures were not followed and for that, the police should be punished. But I remember my vehicle getting broken into once. I immediately felt violated. Then, I wanted to seriously damage the people responsible. In my case, the perpetrators weren’t caught, and nothing of value was taken.

But if Bradley Goode’s testimony is a true reflection of what actually happened to Dafonte Miller. Maybe this young man just learned a brutal lesson about what happens when you mess with people’s property.

But I’m jumping to conclusions. Currently we don’t know what really happened. Bradley Goode could be lying his ass off or could have been threatened by the police. Today, Dafonte Miller takes the stand and I’m waiting to hear what he has to say. I’m hoping this young man adds some clarity to what exactly happened that December night, three years ago. Time will tell!

Take-aways from the Farcical Canadian Election

Well………….. it’s the day after the federal election and Canada remains very much up a creek without a paddle. I predicted, with quite a significant level of revulsion, that Justin Trudeau would be re-elected PM, but with a minority government. And that’s pretty much how it unfolded even though I’m disappointed and a bit surprised he won as many seats as he did. So Justin Trudeau is free to once again rule over the land with his smugness, arrogance and his uncanny ability to call out everyone else on their bad behavior but avoid questions about his own character flaws.  At least, this time around he’s going to require somebody to hold his hand and prop up his government so he can actually pass legislation.

But for me this election was very much about the best of a bad bunch. Yesterday morning I went to the gym and had one last workout to try and figure out which one of these ‘characters’ I wanted to vote for. And as I stepped into the voting booth my vote came down to which political party I disliked the least. While sitting on my couch last night, switching between the CBC and CTV to watch the election coverage, many things became abundantly clear about the current mood of the country.

The Liberals did extremely well in Toronto – the most diverse city in the country. The blackface scandal didn’t hurt Justin Trudeau at all. As a black man, all I can do is shake my head in disgust. But I’m not at all surprised. This just confirms what I’ve mentioned in some of my other blogs and puts me at odds with some of the so-called leaders in the black community. The reaction to the blackface scandal makes it abundantly clear that within the black community we do one thing extremely well…………… and that is ‘selective outrage’! When somebody we don’t like does something we perceive to be racist, we’ll call them out on it and protest until we are blue in the face. However when somebody we like does the same thing, we’ll make convenient excuses for them. I’m not accusing Justin Trudeau of being a white sheet wearing racist. However what he did – on numerous occasions (in fact he cannot recall how many times he wore blackface) – was a racist act. Given the fact he was 29 years old in one of the pictures and was at the time, a teacher at a private school, he cannot claim to have been a young and foolish child. He was a grown ass man! But the black community decided to give him a pass and continue to support him. As well as the South Asian community and all of the ultra-liberal lefties and millennials who like nothing better to accuse anyone with a differing opinion of being racist, yet laughed off Justin’s racist episode as ‘everyone’s made mistakes in their past’. Oh well, maybe Justin will repay Toronto’s kindness by finally handing over the cash for us to build all the damn subways we require in this city. Or maybe not!

Then there was Andrew Scheer and the Conservatives. Even though the Conservatives actually won the most number of votes, Mr. Scheer needs to resign and pass over the leadership reigns to somebody who can actually communicate to a wider audience. Given all of the baggage that came with Mr. Trudeau, you would have expected Andrew Scheer to take advantage by garnering support from all of the people tired of Justin’s scandals. But he was a flopshow! I didn’t like him at all! He came across as very wooden and stiff – just like his predecessor Stephen Harper. Maybe stiff wooden white men do well out on the prairies, but here in Toronto that doesn’t play well.

I’m wondering if anyone else who watched all of the concession and victory speeches last night scratched their heads as vigorously as I did? They were all completely delusional! Justin Trudeau was speaking as if he just kicked some ass, when in fact he got his ass spanked. Andrew Scheer was speaking as if he run’s things when he needs to just run away. And then there’s Jagmeet Singh. Was he high? Did anyone actually inform him what the numbers really mean? Did they mention the goal is to increase your number of seats in parliament and not have them slashed almost in half? He was giving some sort of victory speech when his party got destroyed. And Jagmeet Singh’s progress or lack thereof, gave credence to the allegations from Conservatives that the media is controlled by Liberals. TV and Radio hyped up Mr. Singh at every opportunity. But let’s face it, Jagmeet didn’t stand a chance of winning – for a number of different reasons. Reason number one was the fact he’s been an woefully inadequate leader for the NDP. I once happened to be on a political panel with him when he was an Ontario MPP and I found him to be very much a self-aggrandizing type of opportunist. He’s a good speaker and can relate well to younger voters, but I suspect he weighs each potential encounter and appearance with what’s in it for him. He tends to disappear from view unless he can do something to get in the national headlines. Reason number two that he didn’t stand a chance of winning was the fact he would have to do reasonably well in Quebec. And as much as I love taking little weekend trips to Montreal, the province of Quebec outside of the city of Montreal has racial attitudes that are a few decades behind the rest of the country. They just enacted a popular law outlawing the wearing of religious headwear by municipal workers and government employees. Therefore there was no way in hell they were going to elect a turban wearing Sikh. Jagmeet Singh could have been the most polished and competent candidate out there and the citizens of Quebec would refuse to look past his turban. Yet for all of this, the media in the last two weeks of the campaign had an intense love affair with Mr. Singh. Everyday was greeted with news about how the NDP were moving up in the polls while the other candidates were dropping. They fawned over his response to the blackface scandal – which I do think he handled very well. And they couldn’t stop gushing about his response to the miserable old racist Quebecer who told him he should get rid of the turban – another situation I think he handled extremely well. They praised his performance in the debates and by election day they had many suckers believing the NDP probably wouldn’t win but  regardless would have a magnificent performance. The result……………… they dropped from 39 seats to 24 – an absolute ass-kicking whichever way you look at it. I suspect Jagmeet’s delusions about his party’s importance in the new parliament might be due to the fact Justin Trudeau might have to seek NDP support to pass certain legislation in a minority parliament.

Or Mr. Trudeau might instead choose to get support from the BQ. Which leads me to more head scratching. Why the hell do we allow a separatist party, that only fields candidates in Quebec to participate in federal elections? What idiot made this possible? And we all know Prime Ministers of all stripes like to kiss Quebec’s ass to keep them happy and quiet. So what little gifts will Mr. Trudeau be sending to Quebec over the next couple of years?

The Green Party is another party that needs to dump it’s leader…….. and fast. Elizabeth May seems like a nice lady, but she’s been a dismal leader for the Greens. You would think in this age of climate change and environmentalist movements, the Greens would fare a little bit better. It seems like a party that young people should flock to, yet I suspect they appeal more to middle aged, sandal wearing hippies who smoke pot all day and grind their own coffee!

Lastly we have the bit of comic relief known as the People’s Party of Canada, whose actual name translates to ‘The Angry White People of Canada Party’. Maxine Bernier should write a book entitled ‘How to flush your political career down the toilet’. He ran for the leadership of the Conservatives and lost to the lifeless, wooden party animal known as Andrew Scheer. Then he decides to revive his career by forming his own party and grasping onto the mantra of Populism (racism). Yet his political campaign was so bad he couldn’t even win in Quebec where they admire his brand of immigrant-bashing. He even lost his own seat.

My predictions for the new Liberal minority government are simple. Justin Trudeau has shown himself to be the spoiled rich kid who doesn’t like to play nice. I suspect the word ‘compromise’ doesn’t exist in his vocabulary. Therefore I think he will attempt to govern as if he has a majority. The thing is, he may get away with it. The NDP sure as hell wouldn’t try to bring down the government with Jagmeet Singh as their leader. What would be the point of another election they couldn’t hope to win? The same thing goes for  the Conservatives. Andrew Scheer will never EVER be PM of this country unless the people of Toronto allow it. And from the beatdown he was given in the GTA, things won’t be changing anytime soon. Therefore it wouldn’t be in his best interest to bring down the government either. So until there’s a strong opposition in place we’re stuck with Mr. Blackface. Damn, were screwed!

Is it time to get over slavery

Against my better judgment I settled down on my couch this past Saturday night to watch the latest version of the miniseries ‘Roots’. I got about an hour and fifteen minutes into it before I couldn’t stomach anymore of the pain, sorrow, violence and hopelessness that was depicted on the screen. Don’t get me wrong – the show has a stellar cast, the acting is on point and the production value is very high. But I’ve grown tired of seeing movies and television shows that take place against the backdrop of slavery.

As unlikely as it may seem I’m in 100% full agreement with the rapper; Snoop Dogg in his war of words with ‘News One Now’ host Roland Martin regarding this miniseries. Just to recap, Snoop urged black people to boycott the remake of Roots because he was tired of seeing us depicted as slaves and  oppressed people. For his part Roland Martin responded by urging Snoop not to smoke so much weed and put his money where his mouth is and help finance the type of black films he wants to see.

I agree with Snoop with regards to being sick and tired of seeing us depicted as slaves. And I have a question for Roots Producer Will Packer……what was your intention for doing a remake of Roots? The way I see it, movies are there to either entertain or educate or both. I didn’t learn anything new about the slave trade and I’m sure many, many black people have been sufficiently educated to the genocide that we suffered at the hands of European colonial powers. So if this movie wasn’t meant to educate then I’m assuming it was meant to entertain. I don’t know about you but I don’t find it entertaining to watch depictions of my ancestors being brutalized and dehumanized. All these types of movies do is make me angry. And what good is that going to do? Will Packer in responding to Snoop’s criticism said he believes in the ‘power of being uncomfortable’. Huh……? Why? What is that discomfort going to result in? Something positive? Is it going to urge black people to collectively get off our asses and end the ridiculous levels of crime in our communities, or excel in education and start thriving corporations that will employ many of our own – thereby lifting a whole new generation of black people out of poverty? Or will it just succeed in making us angrier? I’m still not clear on why there had to be a remake of ‘Roots’ especially. I can still remember watching Alex Hailey’s record breaking 1977 miniseries when I was a child. It was an iconic series that got plenty of discussions going. Fast forward almost 40 years and now it’s being treated like any other vintage television series or movie that producers feel the need to remake. Have you completely exhausted your creative minds and cannot think up new ideas for film and television projects?

Of course I’m willing to concede that my negative views on the new Roots remake is in part due to my overall shifting views on the role the legacy of slavery plays in the black community. So I’m going to say something that will be taken as insensitive, careless and downright ‘out of order’, but in my humble opinion we as black people need to get over slavery. There I said it. Notice I didn’t say forget about slavery. We shouldn’t ever forget the price our ancestors paid so that we can now live in relative comfort. However we need to get over it. Because the other option is to not get over it. And how has that worked out so far? I would gladly eat my words and change my opinion in a heartbeat if the topic of slavery were a motivator to getting our community on the right path. But it’s had the opposite effect. It has simply served to keep us perpetually in a ‘victim’ mindset. Victims often elicit sympathy, require hand holding and extra care and are usually treated with kid gloves. I don’t think in the 21^st century that black people need to be seen or treated as victims. And it starts with how we see ourselves. If we spend a fraction of the time and energy we commit to highlighting every wrong done to us and instead direct some of our efforts into providing better mentorship to our young people, building successful businesses AND business mentoring networks, then we as a race would be much more accomplished and successful.

The other point about slavery that many of us don’t want to consider is the fact that the concept of violence didn’t start with the Atlantic Slave Trade. The world had existed for thousands of years before the slave trade began and before it was the European colonial powers being evil it was the Moors, Carthaginians, Huns, Mongols, Vikings, Romans, Egyptians etc…. etc…. Man has always had the capacity for evil and we have inflicted evil acts on each other since the beginning of time and unfortunately will continue to do so until the end of time. So yes, as black people we tend to think of slavery when looking at historical legacies of evil and brutality because we are the product of that brutality and still face inequalities stemming from it, but in reality we’re just one of many groups of people from every single race on this planet who have been screwed over at one time or  another by other groups of people. In addition, we as black people also like to alter certain aspects of the slave trade that don’t reflect so well on us. Let’s be honest, we were complicit, active participants. If slavery consisted of white men traipsing through the African wilderness capturing black people, it may have ended before it ever began. But certain African tribes were more than willing to capture and sell off their enemies to the Europeans for personal gain.

At the end of the day, we cannot change the past. Whatever we do from now until the end of time will not alter the fact that for three hundred years our ancestors were trafficked like animals across the Atlantic Ocean. So lets’ get over it and try and alter our present and our future for the better. If we really want to get angry about slavery, why don’t we get angry over the millions of Africans who are currently being held as slaves in certain North African countries like Sudan and Mauritania? But that’s a debate for another time!

Which Black Lives Matter?

Contrary to what some people may think, I am supportive of the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement. I do sometimes call into question their motives and actions but I think with the spate of high profile killings of black men by the police over the last couple of years especially, there is nothing at all wrong with a group that puts pressure on the police to account for their actions and to call them out when they as usual, get away with murder. That being said, Canada is NOT the United States and I’m left scratching my head to ponder whether there is indeed a crisis of black men being murdered by the police in this country. My verdict…there isn’t!

Who I am not a supporter of is the Toronto chapter of Black Lives Matter. I don’t see any logic with their rhetoric or actions. They recently camped out in front of police headquarters for a couple of weeks to bring pressure on the police over their shooting of Andrew Loku in Toronto in 2015. They want the officer who fired the deadly shot to be publicly named and charged.  Regarding him being charged, the SIU declined to lay charges. No surprise there as the SIU rarely decide to lay charges against the police. It’s really a powerless, inept, incapable and poorly led organization that needs to be disbanded and replaced by a ‘real’ investigative body with real power to roll over the police and demand their cooperation in an investigation. I also don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect that a police officer who is a public servant and essentially works for us – the suckers who pay their salaries through our taxes – should be named in a high profile incident that resulted in a death of a member of the public.

But once again, is there really a crisis of police shooting innocent black men in Toronto or is Black Lives Matter Toronto simply seizing on something controversial to further their own interests and raise their profile in our city? I think a more valid question is whether police training with regards to encounters with individuals with mental illness needs to be improved. If you go back to the 1988 shooting of Lester Donaldson – another black man who was fatally shot by the Toronto police – and whose death culminated in the formation the ‘Black Action Defence Committee – a precursor to the Black Lives Matter movement, you’ll find a large percentage of the black men who have been shot by Toronto police, including Andrew Loku, have been diagnosed with mental illness. If you look to the cases in Toronto over the last fifteen years – men like Michael Eligon, Reyal Jardine-Douglas, Jermaine Carby and Obrien Christopher-Reid – all had mental illness. So do the police have problems dealing with black people or do they have problems dealing with people with mental illness? And people of other races with mental illness have also lost their lives to police. Remember Sammy Yatin?

I read in the news that Toronto Mayor, John Tory and Police Chief Mark Saunders, held a closed-door meeting with leaders of the black community today at City Hall. Black Lives Matter Toronto wasn’t invited and they probably wouldn’t have shown up anyway since they wanted a public meeting – most likely so they could play to their supporters and further their own interests. What leaves me scratching my head though, is who exactly are these Black Community leaders? I’m black and nobody has told me who my leaders are. Before I have somebody speaking and negotiating on my behalf, shouldn’t I first know who they are? Can I somehow communicate to my so called chosen leaders, the things I would like them to speak to the Mayor and Police Chief about? Where are they getting their input from? Are they taking their cues from Black Lives Matter Toronto? If so, God help us all!

As ironic as it might sound, my main criticism of the Black Lives Matter movement both here and in the United States is how successful they have been in raising public awareness to the issue of black people killed by the police. Imagine if just some of that passion, vigour, enthusiasm and organization went into a parallel movement that focused on black people losing their lives…….to other black people. The hypocrisy of the Black Lives Matter movement is in its name. If we really care about our community and black lives do truly matter, then how the hell can we all but ignore a self-perpetuated genocide that we’re inflicting on ourselves? Last year in Chicago, black protesters stood outside in the cold in front of upscale stores on the Magnificent Mile to protest the cover up of the police murder of Laquan McDonald. I have no problem with this whatsoever! What I do have a problem with is the lack of community anger and protest over the 507 homicides that took place in Chicago in 2015 – most of them black. Where is the same passion, anger and organization into highlighting these black deaths? So far in Toronto in 2016, we are double the amount of murders we had last year at this time. And……of course……as usual…black people make up more than half of the victims even though we represent only 8% of the Toronto population. Where is Black Lives Matter Toronto’s anger over that? WHAT………I CAN’T HEAR YOU!!!!!