Halifax’s police union is lashing out after two of their members faced scrutiny for assaulting a Black youth. On Monday, the union that represents Halifax police officers leaked an email to CBC complaining that chief Dan Kinsella placed the officers who assaulted a 15-year-old Black boy — leaving him with a concussion, bruising, and injuries […]
Video shows Halifax police violently arresting 15-year-old
Names are withheld in this article to protect the identity of the youth. A disturbing video taken outside Bedford Place Mall on Friday evening shows the police using force against a 15-year-old Black youth. The short clip of the confrontation begins with the youth asserting, “I can go inside if I want to.” One of […]
Police commissioners wonder if they should “read the manual,” and other adventures in police oversight
If I had to pick an image to sum up my visits to the Board of Police Commissioners, it would be this one: I’m the kitty. My so-far futile yet determined efforts to engage with our democratic institutions continued on Monday, as I attended the latest Board of Police Commissioners meeting. On January 20, I […]
City councillors approve increased police budget despite ongoing racial profiling
You don’t have to be Negrodamus to have predicted that the Halifax City Council would approve the police budget increase of about a million dollars, but even for the cynical the budget committee meeting on Wednesday demonstrated some surprising depths of unaccountability. Calls to freeze the police budget in response to the Halifax Regional Police’s […]
Halifax woman says she was racially profiled by Wal-Mart employees who wrongfully accused her of theft, then beaten by police
Santina Rao was at the Walmart at the Halifax Shopping Centre on Wednesday when she was accused of stealing by store staff, assaulted by the police, and arrested. Rao was shopping with her two young children, age 3 and 15 months. She paid for $90 worth of items in the electronics department. The cashier told […]
Georgie Fagan used to organize with white supremacists. Now he condemns them.
The friendship I can’t remember exactly when I met Georgie Fagan, but for some time we organized together for prisoners. Georgie had been in and out of prison for most of his life, and has years of experience in the prison system. At Prisoner Justice Day a few years ago, he spoke movingly about his […]
A case of gangrene raises health concerns at the East Coast Forensic Hospital
People in the mental health community who are close to family members of a 45-year-old man are speaking out after the man was admitted to hospital with gangrene in his stomach. The patient, who lives with schizophrenia, has been in and out of the East Coast Forensic Hospital for the past 20 years. Family members […]
Street check apology misses the point: Black people continue to be profiled and surveilled
Before and after Friday, the community and media will be caught up in the wording of the apology, whether we are happy with the apology, and whether we accept the apology or not. All of this is happening on the terms of the police. Let us not forget that they refused to apologize, then changed their minds, and yet we are expected to show up when they finally feel like it.
On Friday, November 29, Halifax Police Chief Dan Kinsella will apologize to the African Nova Scotian community for street checks. The apology comes after the police initially rejected calls to apologize. The Halifax Board of Police Commissioners prepared a statement at their April 15th meeting asking both the RCMP and the Halifax Regional Police to […]
Steal Away Home: Eddie Carvery’s protest and the value of Black life
This Saturday, I took a guest speaker to Africville. Black people across the world have heard of the destruction of the community, and they always want to make a pilgrimage to bear witness on the land. After visiting the sundial with the names of families who lived in Africville, we drove to the museum, where […]
Windsor Halloween display opens generational wounds of racist violence
African Nova Scotian community members in Windsor, Nova Scotia say they are facing harassment after speaking out about Halloween decorations displayed by a local family. Kevin Upshaw, an African Nova Scotian man born and raised in Windsor, said he was shocked when he first saw the decorations, which appear to depict figures with black faces […]
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