Black Canada Talking™ is a live online event that provides Black Canadians the opportunity to give their takes and POVs on stories that are of importance to them.
On the April 25, 2021 edition of Black Canada Talking™, the guests were El Jones, Cesar Ndema-Moussa, and Sarah Onyango.
During this episode, the panel will be talking about the Derek Chauvin trial verdict and the most recent Canadian federal budget.
El Jones (@12:34) on the topic of more money for drug court in the Canadian Federal budget:
[T]hat’s concerning just seeing that money go it like looks good on the surface . . . good we’re trying to move people out of the criminal justice system but we can’t just make a medical system that becomes a criminal system. A medical system has to be a medical system based on best practice it can’t be a criminal system.
Watch the full conversation:
Listen to the audio-only version:
Transcript provided by YouTube (unedited):
00:06
[Music]
00:35
[Music]
01:20
what is up everybody it’s dr vibe here
01:23
host and producer of the award-winning
01:24
doctor vibe show the home of epic
01:26
conversations
01:27
and i’m the host of epic conversations
01:29
2020
01:30
best podcast news in 2018 that
01:33
innovation award winner given out by the
01:34
canadian ethnic media association
01:36
also i host the only online show in the
01:39
world
01:40
for fathers and dads this is sponsored
01:42
by da da sorry i gotta get that right
01:44
by dove men care and dad central
01:48
dad central’s canada’s national national
01:50
fatherhood organization
01:51
and also i am the board chair of the
01:53
global food and drink initiative
01:55
which is a multimedia not-for-profit
01:57
that’s based in the united states
01:58
whose mission is to show blacks in the
02:01
diaspora that are doing all things
02:04
in food wine and travel as always i’d
02:05
like to say you’re blessed highly
02:07
favored
02:08
a magnet for miracles and a solution for
02:10
someone’s problem and it is black canada
02:12
talking
02:13
time so once a month we do it’s actually
02:16
the last sunday of each month
02:18
we do black canada talking or we get
02:21
blocks canadians we either showcase them
02:23
or we get their povs
02:25
on things that are going on in their
02:28
world
02:28
hey we got the bottom of a live online
02:30
event that provides black canadians an
02:32
opportunity to give their takes and povs
02:34
on stories
02:35
that are of importance to them and it’s
02:37
our end-of-month panel time
02:39
and we have two regulars and a special
02:41
guest panelist today so i’m gonna
02:43
introduce first up our regulars first
02:46
off
02:46
from the east miss jones what’s going on
02:50
elle
02:51
hey well you know we just got covered
02:54
after not having any coven
02:56
so just went into lockdown and
02:58
everybody’s enraged
02:59
so just now well we didn’t have anything
03:02
really since the first wave right like
03:03
so
03:05
cool and since like may last year and we
03:08
had a little spike before christmas and
03:09
then people came from
03:11
ontario and didn’t isolate and
03:14
spread coven so we just went into a
03:17
lockdown so everybody’s really mad here
03:19
but
03:19
you know other than that things are good
03:21
well i guess i guess
03:23
my trip for the future at east is not
03:25
going to be received so nicely so
03:27
we were opening up it was all good and
03:29
now we’re community spread and we’re
03:31
like as many cases as we’ve ever had in
03:32
the whole
03:33
time so and how how long is this for
03:36
well we’re gonna have
03:37
four weeks twenty years oh my gosh
03:41
i mean the schools like so we went from
03:44
like no cases to like 44 cases like
03:46
overnight and then like you know people
03:47
keep going
03:48
so but you’re okay yeah i don’t go
03:51
outside i’m just
03:52
all right all right as long as you’re
03:54
safe that’s the most important thing and
03:56
i know
03:56
you know a good chef but that’s another
03:58
conversation that’s
04:00
all right next up we got our dear friend
04:03
cesar
04:04
what is up cesar brothers sisters
04:08
hi everyone pleasure to be here as
04:10
always um
04:12
lots of things going on of course so
04:15
many things to talk about
04:16
as always regarding uh the reality of
04:19
being black
04:20
black in a black body black so many
04:23
intersections
04:24
gender but also anything and everything
04:27
that’s why we’re here and africanism all
04:29
the way good stuff and you’re safe and
04:31
okay
04:32
i’m okay still alive thanks the
04:35
ancestors another day and
04:37
you know when we think about the passing
04:38
of so many of our
04:40
musical legends that we grew up with ems
04:43
black rob i don’t want to say too much
04:45
on that but respect and tribute to the
04:48
families
04:49
and also to all the activists men women
04:52
lgbtq of our people who are standing and
04:55
doing the fight
04:56
every day but too often go uh unknown or
04:59
ignored
05:01
respect good to have here as always and
05:03
our special destiny
05:05
from ottawa sarah algo
05:09
sarah where are you there she is bonjour
05:12
how are you no i’m not in ottawa
05:16
i greet you from the um
05:21
unseated and unsurrended territory of
05:23
the anishinaabe algonquin people
05:26
but on the quebec side in gatineau yes
05:30
so in quebec we also are in some sort of
05:34
lockdown and we’ve been under curfew
05:36
forever it feels like
05:38
because we we can’t be seen outside
05:41
past 8 p.m i believe they had they had
05:44
made it later
05:45
and then when they saw people were
05:47
abusing it
05:48
they you know went back to the original
05:51
and i i think people saw the protests in
05:54
quebec city
05:55
in my province where they went to the
05:58
old
05:59
port and proceeded to
06:02
basically try and destroy and vandalize
06:05
a whole bunch of small businesses that
06:08
were already struggling
06:09
and uh i have to tell you uh uh
06:14
the people here don’t just they do not
06:16
take well
06:17
to being told what to do in the first
06:19
place and then being put
06:21
under curfew and lockdown so
06:25
and the cases yes they’ve gone up as
06:27
well
06:28
here and we’re the uh the community
06:32
spread and i think maybe nova scotia is
06:34
the same thing it’s being fueled
06:36
by these new variants of uh
06:40
concern so but i’m safe
06:43
and i’m well uh
06:47
you you are not a regular with us so if
06:49
you get well i’m a regular
06:50
listener yes that’s true
06:53
yeah and you’ve been on live a few times
06:55
and you but if
06:57
you can take like 60 seconds just give a
06:59
little background on yourself for our
07:00
viewers because
07:01
for many they don’t know the good person
07:03
that you are
07:04
oh okay um i’m a
07:07
community radio and television host
07:10
uh but most of my community media work
07:13
is in radio with chu 089.1
07:16
fm in ottawa where you can hear myself
07:19
and my co-hosts adrian
07:22
denise and patricia and jacqueline
07:26
every saturday from 11am to noon
07:29
talking about different issues including
07:31
covid
07:32
and the budget and policing and all
07:35
kinds of
07:36
uh uh shows like that i also host two
07:39
other
07:40
african shows one in french and the
07:42
other in english
07:44
and the tv shows on rogers rogers ottawa
07:48
and um yeah all right well thank you so
07:52
much well done
07:53
great intro great intro looking forward
07:56
to another epic conversation today
07:58
and uh we’re gonna start off with a
08:01
budget
08:01
the federal budget was released earlier
08:03
on in the week
08:05
and a very interesting document
08:08
uh money seems to be going out all over
08:11
the place especially the black community
08:13
and i wonder why it is but let’s uh
08:16
sarah has a little bit of a
08:17
a good case on on the budget sir we’re
08:20
going to let you lead on the
08:21
conversation yeah
08:22
i have an unfair advantage because i
08:24
happen to work
08:25
for a media organization that uh
08:28
specializes in
08:30
parliamentary affairs and politics etc
08:32
so i have no choice but to follow this
08:35
stuff so basically
08:36
um the budget was um tabled on the 19th
08:42
and uh by the first ever female
08:46
minister of finance so you know little
08:49
history being made there
08:51
and um a budget
08:54
that had a feminist
08:58
uh bent to it and we’re going to talk
09:00
about you know the commitment to child
09:02
care
09:03
that is in uh that budget 30 billion
09:06
dollars for that
09:08
uh but again interesting to note that
09:11
once again
09:12
uh investments were made to address uh
09:15
issues that are critical to black
09:17
canadians
09:19
and uh where we live so uh
09:23
investments uh to support black
09:25
community black community support
09:27
programs
09:28
uh data race based data collection
09:32
public service uh recruitment that’s not
09:34
so much money as it is
09:36
uh amending the public service uh
09:39
act mental health supports black
09:43
entrepreneurialism
09:44
uh and we’re gonna i’m sure have
09:47
something to say about
09:48
the uh black endowment fund
09:52
that is also in the budget and
09:55
um i’d like to really salute
09:58
all of the black lead organizations and
10:01
advocates there were over 200
10:03
black lead organizations whose efforts
10:06
and participation in pre-budget
10:10
consultations
10:11
led to some of the measures that
10:14
are included in this budget okay
10:19
so thank you so much for the overview of
10:22
the budget
10:23
uh responses any initial reaction from
10:27
elle or cesar i have a few thoughts but
10:30
i’d
10:30
definitely like my co-panelists or the
10:33
panelists
10:34
ask any questions because it seems that
10:35
sarah’s more at first and i know a
10:37
little bit i was involved in the
10:38
pre-budget consultations myself
10:41
too so l cesar what are your initial
10:44
comments or thoughts if any when it
10:46
comes to this budget
10:47
well first of all thank you so much
10:49
sarah for breaking this down for us
10:51
um because i mean i followed a little
10:53
bit but you know it’s very complex
10:54
so i really am like really glad that
10:57
there’s black people out here that are
10:58
specifically pulling out what’s relevant
10:59
to the black community because otherwise
11:01
we have to go through this all ourselves
11:02
so thank you
11:03
so much that’s why it’s really important
11:04
to have black voices in the media i
11:06
actually didn’t know
11:07
some of that that you were telling me um
11:09
one of the pieces that stood out to me
11:11
is more money
11:12
for drug courts which may sound good but
11:15
is concerning um
11:16
because at the same time canada has been
11:18
sort of undergoing a process to rethink
11:20
our drug
11:20
laws and this is related to something
11:22
we’re going to be talking about later
11:23
which is of course the george floyd
11:25
um the the verdict for derek chauvin and
11:28
i think it’s really important that we
11:29
think about george’s
11:30
george floyd’s case in the context of
11:32
the war on drugs as well right that like
11:34
um the whole defense case was basically
11:36
like he was on drugs
11:38
he died because of drugs and essentially
11:40
he deserved to die because he was on
11:42
drugs so this long
11:43
war on drugs that also create stigma
11:44
against drug users canada has slowly
11:46
been trying to dismantle some of this um
11:48
so bill c-22 right where we
11:50
decriminalized simple possession but we
11:53
maintained a lot of penalties
11:55
and so there was a lot of pushback on
11:56
that um and then now we have expanded
11:59
money for drug courts which suggests in
12:00
other words that we’re gonna keep
12:01
criminalizing drug use like
12:03
drug use is a medical issue and it
12:05
shouldn’t be in the courts period
12:06
and the problem with drug courts is that
12:08
it still creates a penalty
12:10
and then if you like relapse or you know
12:12
you something happens you end up with
12:14
actually more penalties first you’ve
12:15
gone through drug court and had to
12:16
go through all of that then you end up
12:18
breaching your drug court conditions and
12:20
you end up with like more charges and
12:21
it’s worse than if you just gone to jail
12:23
in the first place
12:24
so we really don’t want any kind of
12:26
compelled treatment
12:27
um for people who are using drugs we
12:28
want people to obviously voluntarily go
12:30
into treatment if that’s something they
12:31
want to need
12:32
um so that’s concerning just seeing that
12:34
money go it like looks good on the
12:35
surface so it’s something that people
12:36
like okay good we’re trying to move
12:37
people out of the criminal justice
12:39
system
12:39
but we can’t just make a medical system
12:41
that becomes a criminal system like a
12:43
medical system has to be a medical
12:44
system based on best practice it can’t
12:46
be a criminal system
12:47
so that’s just something that stood out
12:49
to me and the other thing i want to talk
12:51
about isn’t directly to the budget i
12:52
hope sarah you come back in
12:53
and give us some of the more
12:54
technicalities because this is actually
12:55
really helpful
12:56
um but there’s been a sort of broader
12:59
conversation going on in the black
13:00
community about money so um
13:02
blm has been in that conversation right
13:04
there was that um sort of what has
13:05
happened to the money with blm global
13:07
network so not
13:09
the individual chapters not the general
13:11
people that make up a mass movement but
13:13
specifically some of that leadership
13:15
and i don’t want to get into that some
13:16
of it’s being fueled by the right wing
13:17
some of it’s
13:18
obviously coming from black people who
13:19
have been launching critique for a long
13:20
time
13:21
but what it raised for us is i think a
13:23
really important question around just
13:24
ethics and money and how do we be
13:26
transparent with the community and what
13:27
does accountability look like from black
13:29
organizations and people and that’s a
13:31
conversation that’s been really
13:32
difficult to have in the black community
13:33
historically
13:34
and always gets kind of co-op like again
13:38
with the bln conversation it originated
13:40
with chapters that are trying to have
13:41
that conversation and of course it gets
13:42
co-opted by white people
13:44
who then it becomes like who has this
13:45
house or you know what it isn’t really
13:47
the conversation which is around
13:49
when we have money you know how do we
13:51
equitably distribute it
13:53
what are the ethics and principles
13:54
behind that um the broader question is
13:56
you know what does it look like in this
13:57
time if you’re making money from this
13:58
movement you know what do you owe back
14:00
to your community
14:01
um and those are really important
14:02
questions so i think it’s just
14:03
interesting that we’ve been involved in
14:05
a kind of broader
14:06
conversation about what finances mean in
14:08
black community how we manage that what
14:09
happens when we get our hands on money
14:11
um that may be also related to this
14:13
conversation about the budget like what
14:14
does it mean when we’re giving money to
14:16
black which is like never any money like
14:17
i never want to bind this idea that like
14:19
the
14:20
oh no 200 million i always say these are
14:22
rounding errors on reports like the
14:23
government spends more to decide if they
14:25
should shift garbage date and leak of
14:27
black people to sustain our entire lives
14:28
across canada
14:30
but even with that we’ve seen you know
14:32
all the issues around who’s black to get
14:33
money and like
14:34
what that looks like so i just think
14:36
that’s an interesting conversation as
14:37
well right like what are the ethics of
14:39
money
14:39
community money and collective money in
14:41
the black community and that’s what i’ll
14:42
say and cesar but i also
14:44
sarah i hope you can jump back in and
14:45
give us some more particulars because
14:47
that
14:47
like i said that’s been really helpful
14:49
cesar
14:53
so um thank you sarah
14:57
thank you al um all right let’s get
15:01
controversial
15:04
some of the criticism that has come
15:06
regarding the federal budget is that
15:07
it’s an electoralist budget
15:10
um there’s a historical lens uh minister
15:14
and deputy prime minister christopher
15:16
freeland
15:17
announcing it you know some people talk
15:19
about a feminist
15:20
budget not only in terms of millions in
15:23
five years to come regarding daycare i
15:26
welcome that but
15:27
it’s an electoralist budget because it
15:29
seems like uh in first
15:31
i mean it seems at first glance like a
15:33
lot of gifts
15:34
to uh minority communities and notably
15:38
black
15:39
um i welcome it i welcome it considering
15:42
all the pain and harm
15:44
that not only kovid has created but also
15:47
the economy precision that we’re in
15:50
in terms of the questions that come in
15:51
terms of the potential management the
15:54
potential management of
15:55
money um
15:58
this is really a conversation that in
16:00
terms of black community
16:02
we must keep improving uh we already had
16:04
a conversation
16:06
not to be regarding black chamber of
16:07
commerce regarding
16:09
even other organizations that as black
16:12
people we are too often aware of how
16:15
public funds tend to come into
16:17
organizations
16:18
and too often they don’t get
16:20
redistributed they don’t
16:22
get to be seen by the average black
16:24
person
16:25
and too many uh by nepotism
16:28
use organizations to uh uh
16:32
enlarge the bank accounts for some
16:35
offshore slash interest back home in
16:38
africa in the caribbean however in terms
16:41
of all the pain
16:43
that has come at least since 2020
16:46
and not only recovered social
16:47
determinants of health i mean these
16:50
budgets in terms of trying to address
16:52
black entrepreneurship i believe up to
16:54
200 millions
16:55
but also social activities and community
16:58
organizations
16:59
and i must say i think we have to i
17:01
don’t want to say celebrate because i
17:03
don’t think it should be something to
17:04
celebrate it’s something that should be
17:06
a bare minimum but at least recognition
17:09
of a minimum 15
17:11
wage a day which of course if you ask me
17:14
it’s not enough but it’s better than
17:16
what was
17:17
prior if i can quickly address the
17:20
issue regarding uh the criminalization
17:23
of drugs and regarding black people
17:26
we must always be honest in recognizing
17:29
that this is a colonial land and by
17:31
default
17:32
it’s also a racist country let’s be
17:35
careful
17:35
absolutely one of the best countries to
17:37
live in but systemic racism is
17:40
uh very much alive where to the point
17:42
the prime minister recognize it and as
17:43
such
17:44
when it comes to drugs and being black
17:46
we basically live
17:48
in a canadian society also the us and
17:51
pretty much worldwide
17:52
where a white person with a drug issue
17:55
is seen as a medical problem
17:57
example uh opioids a black person
18:01
uh as minimal as it is let’s say even
18:03
marijuana
18:04
is seen as a criminal and we saw it so
18:07
well
18:08
to give reference to uh the direct
18:10
chauvin
18:11
trial where the defense bluntly put it
18:15
that they were
18:15
in intending on sowing doubt regarding
18:19
uh uh brother floyd
18:23
drug use despite all the medical experts
18:26
uh
18:26
clearly testing that it wasn’t the case
18:29
it’s really a matter of
18:30
culture it’s a matter of societal
18:33
conversation
18:35
too often it’s not a matter of fact it’s
18:38
not a matter of science and it’s not a
18:39
matter of
18:40
well-being for each and every one so we
18:42
must address this
18:43
but regarding the federal budget it’s
18:45
better than anything and if i can
18:47
just one last thing a lot of criticism
18:50
must always be addressed when there is a
18:52
budget
18:54
but we must always be fair i find
18:56
hilarious to have
18:58
the conservative leader erin otto
19:00
criticizing a federal budget when as a
19:02
black person
19:03
he doesn’t even recognize systemic
19:04
criticism and too many black
19:06
conservatives
19:07
tend to be quiet next to massa when he
19:11
thinks the american system in criticism
19:13
aka he doesn’t even recognize the
19:15
indignity
19:16
to the black skin and the skin of the
19:18
family friends
19:19
and other black people in canada i’m
19:22
sorry
19:22
aaron o’toole has no word to say
19:25
regarding
19:26
criticism of the budget for blacks and
19:29
notably indigenous and others
19:32
so so i’m
19:36
i’m gonna stay away from you know the
19:37
whole partisan thing
19:39
and get right back i’m not a liberal i’m
19:41
not a liberal i just find it funny that
19:43
he had a criticism
19:44
that’s not what i yeah no that’s not
19:46
what i meant but anyway
19:48
um yes indeed the 30 billion dollar
19:51
commitment to child care is going to be
19:54
very helpful
19:55
to our black mostly single moms
19:59
sometimes having to work several jobs
20:02
and uh living in poverty despite the
20:06
several jobs because they just they
20:08
cannot afford
20:09
uh upper quality child care
20:13
the the problem though you already you
20:16
well okay so this is to
20:19
fund a national child care program
20:22
outside quebec because my province we’ve
20:25
had
20:26
a subsidized uh eventual life
20:29
child care problem okay and the whole
20:31
baby bonus and the whole
20:33
thing there have been measures for years
20:35
to support
20:37
families and having children but
20:40
the government the federal government is
20:42
gonna have to um
20:44
negotiate with all the different
20:46
provinces provinces
20:48
you know to to put that in place
20:51
and if we go by what happened with
20:53
carbon tax
20:55
bonjour is it okay like it’s it’s not we
20:58
may not even see it
21:00
uh before uh
21:03
a whole other term of the liberal this
21:05
current liberal government if if it
21:07
survives
21:08
um one uh thing i
21:12
really want to bring up is that really
21:14
picked my interest is this 200
21:16
million dollars in 2021-22
21:21
uh that is being given to employment and
21:24
social
21:25
uh development canada to establish this
21:28
black
21:29
lead philanthropic endowment uh fund
21:32
uh which is going to in turn
21:36
finance initiatives by local black
21:38
community organizations to address
21:41
things like you know fighting uh
21:43
anti-black racism
21:45
and just improving the the social and
21:47
economic outcomes
21:49
of the different communities and
21:52
like else said we really don’t have the
21:55
greatest record in terms of
21:57
you know the financial accountability
21:59
piece
22:00
uh when you know money like that
22:04
is is uh is given out and
22:07
i mean i i’m you know i’m a board member
22:10
of a non-profit and i know for fact
22:12
we we have often had to say nah we’re
22:15
not even going to try and apply for that
22:17
because look at the 10 pages of
22:19
requirements
22:21
reporting requirements we have to do one
22:24
two
22:25
that’s a lot of money for our little
22:28
organization to try matt we have to hire
22:30
a whole other body
22:31
just to be keeping track of this money
22:34
we no we can’t
22:35
you know that sort of thing so it’s all
22:38
well and good for them to to
22:40
throw that money out but if we don’t
22:42
have organizations
22:43
that have the capacity the wherewithal
22:46
the expertise
22:48
uh and the trust and the trust
22:52
of the communities they’re supposed to
22:53
serve
22:56
we will be going nowhere fast and next
22:58
thing you know
22:59
money will be returned to the treasury
23:02
board of canada
23:03
and then the government is going to say
23:05
see look at these black people
23:07
we had all this money earmarked we had
23:10
the the public security money
23:12
uh i saw something yes the the the money
23:15
to enhance
23:16
um what is it communities at risk
23:20
security infrastructure program and
23:21
that’s
23:22
to um to work on the security systems of
23:27
you know like places of worship and
23:30
community centers that are likely to be
23:31
targeted
23:33
by racists you know vandalism
23:36
destruction etc so yeah you know
23:40
that’s the first thing i thought when i
23:41
i saw these
23:44
amounts flying all over the place is
23:47
okay a who’s going to be managing that
23:50
money
23:51
how are they going to be able to manage
23:52
it and where are we going to see the
23:55
the accountability
23:59
i’m not saying we can’t do it i mean we
24:01
have organizations like the bbpa
24:04
and the you know the black north
24:05
initiative and taibu
24:07
and you know all kinds of different
24:09
organizations
24:11
that do effective work with the funding
24:14
they get
24:16
but i’m just going to jump in for a
24:19
quick second here
24:20
i think there’s a few things and
24:23
i think it’s another conversation about
24:25
the whole funding process
24:27
yes there’s and there needs to be
24:29
accountability on
24:31
the receiver’s end but also on the
24:34
giver’s end
24:36
you know i spent most of last year
24:38
listening to and and sarah was in
24:40
a number of these conversations with a
24:42
number of black
24:43
nonprofit i will say legitimate
24:46
organizations
24:48
that are not being set up for success by
24:51
the federal government for whatever
24:52
reason a lot of times it’s processes
24:54
a lot of times they have to spend money
24:56
that they don’t have
24:57
to get the money that they should get
25:00
and then you get the money late
25:02
that happens to us all the time we
25:05
passed when we needed it because it
25:07
takes i don’t know seven months or
25:08
something
25:09
exactly to process you know i don’t know
25:12
20 pages
25:13
so when i hear announcements of money as
25:15
we before we went live i said
25:17
hashtag get the bag right
25:20
get the bag right and for me
25:23
i i i’m just looking back because i
25:26
there’s 221 million
25:29
where is it there’s 25 million
25:32
where is it so now it it’s i think
25:35
i think what may need to happen is we
25:37
need to make a list of all the promised
25:39
monies
25:40
and this and the concerning part is even
25:42
if those monies were given out
25:45
a the process needs to be improved
25:48
b organizations that should get aren’t
25:51
getting
25:52
so this is a mess and in some minds
25:55
ways my mind saying you’re throwing
25:57
money to make a a problem
25:59
worse than it is and i would rather
26:04
consultations happen with all the
26:05
parties to get this process
26:08
right than just throwing this thing and
26:10
at the end of the day
26:11
the people that really need the help
26:13
aren’t getting the help
26:15
so bye cesar first then back to
26:21
sarah cesar go ahead i just very quickly
26:24
wanted to uh
26:25
state that you noticed that i spoke
26:29
some may think naively not naively i
26:31
spoke particularly of the budget
26:33
regarding black populations
26:35
but as we are envisaging uh looking
26:38
forward to
26:39
potential issues we already had an issue
26:42
that
26:42
my knowledge is still fully settled
26:46
aka some of these black organizations
26:49
that were
26:49
being questioned in terms of are they
26:51
really black
26:53
yes we are looking at
26:56
more influx of money beautiful promises
27:00
bring the elections in summer or
27:02
september
27:04
we know which party black most of the
27:06
black uh community will vote for
27:09
but did we get an apology did you really
27:12
get fixes
27:13
did some of those organizations that got
27:15
slighted aka
27:16
insulted regarding the racial belonging
27:20
to
27:20
a black to the black community such as
27:23
somalis
27:25
did they get any kind of compensation no
27:28
i mean we need
27:29
are we really having these conversations
27:31
are really just like you know
27:32
forget that controversy from a few
27:34
months ago look what we’re promising to
27:36
you
27:36
aka white savior complex dangling a
27:39
bunch of millions
27:41
that may just bring more complications
27:43
especially in terms of
27:45
returns loans you see
27:48
all of these type of things and then of
27:50
course interests
27:51
i mean you know what what do i know
27:56
sir head go ahead sarah
28:00
um i think
28:02
also what needs to happen is within our
28:05
own black community we need to also do a
28:08
better job
28:09
of information sharing because we’re
28:12
finding out here in
28:14
in ottawa and in quebec that a lot of
28:16
the organizations that are
28:18
not being helped or you know get left
28:20
behind
28:21
it’s often because they don’t get the
28:24
information the information is not
28:26
filtering out
28:27
from the gatekeepers of the information
28:29
the the people who
28:31
who know ahmed hussein and who hang out
28:33
with
28:34
um greg fergus my member of parliament
28:37
or
28:37
you know who know the michael john
28:39
foundation people or know the
28:40
bni people etc etc so all the different
28:44
associations like national associations
28:47
and uh associations that work in the
28:50
settlement sector for example
28:52
or you know the ones that cater to young
28:56
people
28:58
you know young mothers single mothers
29:00
y’all need to like
29:02
you know share the information this
29:04
keeping it to yourself
29:05
for what it helps nobody it doesn’t help
29:08
you
29:09
right so that’s also what we need to do
29:11
because
29:12
the government puts it out there and
29:13
they they slap that on their canada.ca
29:16
website black there’s like that like
29:18
whatever
29:21
but that doesn’t mean anything if you
29:23
didn’t go to you know dr vibe the
29:25
pre-budget budget consultation
29:27
uh meetings and the post-budget
29:30
consultations meeting
29:31
that we’ve been attending so i have an
29:34
interesting question for you sir
29:35
you’re located in the capital region yes
29:39
now correct me if i’m wrong when they
29:41
are announcing a budget is it not
29:43
tradition that they have
29:44
media in to give them an advance look at
29:47
the budget
29:49
yeah but the thing is you know it’s in
29:51
lock up
29:53
my here’s my question where are there or
29:56
have there
29:56
ever been black journalists invited to
29:59
that
30:01
there we go there we go
30:04
listen no no listen i’ve i’ve been with
30:07
this media organization
30:08
for over 20 years yeah and i’ve been
30:12
in the physical lock-up because this
30:14
year for the first time it was
30:15
virtual so you didn’t really know who
30:17
was what right
30:19
um and yeah you know
30:22
most years it was like oh i’m the one
30:25
black person and i’m a translator i’m
30:27
not even a reporter
30:29
isn’t that interesting never mind black
30:32
media people
30:33
black media organizations and south
30:37
asian media organizations
30:39
and anything that’s non-mainstream
30:41
non-white
30:43
media organization that’s one thing you
30:47
have to say for
30:48
former prime minister harper because if
30:51
you look at
30:51
you know a lot of his um press
30:54
conferences
30:56
especially towards you know the end you
30:59
always always always had
31:00
you know the south asian in there the
31:02
black in there
31:04
the chinese in there asking at least one
31:06
question
31:07
and the mainstream did not like it the
31:10
gatekeepers
31:12
of this access absolutely did not like
31:15
it
31:15
because oh my god these people were
31:18
asking
31:19
questions that were relevant to their
31:21
communities
31:23
you know immigration issues uh
31:26
you know uh policing issues right you
31:28
know
31:29
health issues that affect their
31:30
community discrimination etc etc
31:33
so you are absolutely correct i mean
31:36
so were you the only black person in the
31:40
media lock up last week i don’t know
31:43
it was virtual and
31:47
because i’m not a reporter i’m a
31:49
translator so yeah all i care about is
31:52
what does it say and what do i have to
31:53
translate garbage in garbage out garbage
31:56
like i’m not even and i’m not allowed to
32:00
let any of it out
32:01
until the minister of finance is
32:04
standing up
32:05
in the house of commons reading this out
32:08
and this is done for a specific reason
32:10
and there’s a reason it’s at four
32:11
o’clock
32:12
it’s because the the the the stock
32:15
market has closed by that yes
32:17
yes so it’s so that people can’t use the
32:19
information they know ahead of time
32:22
to go and you know do all these
32:23
transactions that enrich themselves
32:25
which
32:26
has never happened of course that’s
32:28
never
32:29
right so so see to me
32:35
if yeah if they should have if if they
32:38
can’t
32:38
if the government cares about canadians
32:41
you should have
32:42
black representation at those lockups
32:45
yeah and you know what uh i’m putting
32:48
this call out to the canadian associate
32:50
association of black journalists captain
32:53
aj
32:54
yeah cab jay has now an excellent
32:57
leadership
32:58
they’re they seem you know much more
33:00
active
33:01
and proactive this is something because
33:04
they advocate so this is something
33:06
they should advocate for and a lot of
33:08
the people
33:09
who run that organization are current
33:12
or former broadcaster owners who know
33:15
exactly what you’re
33:16
talking about so you know that would be
33:19
something they could take on
33:21
okay now anything you’re wanting to add
33:23
before we probably move to another
33:25
our second conversation into the next
33:27
conversation because i i think sarah’s
33:28
point also
33:29
around um information sharing and
33:32
gatekeeping is a really important one
33:34
and it takes us into something about
33:35
this moment right because it’s not just
33:37
with the budget that black people are
33:38
finally getting you know some forms of
33:40
looking it’s
33:41
like universities everybody’s committed
33:42
to 12 hires 18 hires all these
33:45
big hires coming in i’m like where are
33:46
you going get the black people from you
33:48
know but then
33:49
uh like you kicked us all out years ago
33:51
you know you wouldn’t give us phds you
33:52
would give us jobs everybody left to go
33:54
do other things and now you want black
33:55
academics and this is what cesar said as
33:57
well right it’s actually a really sort
33:58
of painful gaslight of this moment
34:00
that for so many years it’s not like
34:02
black people haven’t been around doing
34:04
things qualifying for things
34:06
and they never wanted us we were garbage
34:08
and worthless and now suddenly in this
34:10
moment because of pr
34:11
not because our lives matter more
34:13
suddenly this group in that group in
34:14
this institution everybody wants black
34:16
people they never come and say you know
34:17
i’m really sorry that five years ago i
34:19
rejected your resume
34:21
and you were qualified and now come back
34:23
in and here’s some reparations right
34:24
like
34:24
that doesn’t happen they’re just like oh
34:26
yeah now we’re hiring people like what
34:27
about all the people you threw in the
34:28
garbage can
34:29
like why don’t you go back to those
34:31
people that never made your short list
34:32
that got their resumes thrown
34:34
out that never got the grant so um but
34:36
then there’s that bigger thing of the
34:37
way that it forces us
34:38
into competition with each other right
34:40
so if it’s like a black hire
34:43
then you’re suddenly competing against
34:44
all these other black people yeah
34:45
there’s this like do you
34:47
like want to get yours so do you hoard
34:49
that to yourself and try and not tell
34:50
people
34:51
or do you like which is the better way
34:53
obviously collectively inform each other
34:55
try and get everybody in but
34:56
like and that one of the dangers is that
34:58
when we’re given these crumbs and this
35:00
money and that money
35:01
and we have to do it against each other
35:03
it forces us into competition with each
35:05
other and actually can become a huge
35:06
divide and rule right like
35:08
who who got this money i didn’t get that
35:09
money okay so my media organization
35:11
matters because i got government money
35:12
and
35:13
i didn’t so you know like and then who
35:15
has access so yeah another question that
35:17
i think as a community we have to sort
35:18
of
35:19
think about too right like how do we act
35:21
collectively in the face
35:22
of um you know the pressures now that
35:25
like if you get yours and this sort of
35:26
two-year window that we’re going to have
35:28
like do you scramble for yours or do we
35:29
try and
35:30
you know do it for the whole community
35:32
well forget the two-year window because
35:34
an election’s coming
35:35
so yeah exactly so so that’s another
35:37
thing too an election is coming
35:39
so whatever time frame this money was
35:41
scheduled to come
35:43
who and i’m i i’m just saying no and
35:46
this happens over and over again
35:48
when is it going to come and a mind
35:51
this is my question to all of us what
35:54
have we learned
35:55
during this last year about us and are
35:58
we willing to do
35:59
better because
36:03
the game is the same we have to change
36:08
the game is still the same we need to
36:11
play
36:11
chess not checkers
36:15
no i didn’t mean to keep him in the
36:16
world too sorry he’s you speaking let me
36:18
tony pause i thought you were done i’m
36:19
sorry no
36:20
it’s okay i don’t pause so i’m confused
36:23
okay
36:24
you pause when they sleep um no uh
36:27
i was gonna say that this is something
36:28
to move into the george floyd verdict is
36:31
so many white people in particular have
36:32
tried to treat that verdict like okay
36:34
so now the system showed that it can
36:36
like be good so
36:37
good we don’t need to like do all these
36:39
major changes all we need to do is
36:40
command like that’s
36:41
one conviction and i saw so much
36:44
rhetoric coming
36:45
from particularly white people like
36:47
ostensibly liberal
36:49
rhetoric i don’t mean liberal government
36:50
i mean like liberal as in like martin
36:52
luther king white liberals um
36:54
that you know like oh i’m so relieved
36:56
because like now you won’t have to have
36:57
this writing because now
36:59
you know like black people got what they
37:01
wanted so therefore the system works
37:02
and i have this like rant about how that
37:05
i’ve had for years about how have you
37:06
noticed that like every
37:07
black movie until very recently is a
37:10
takes place in the courtroom so it’s
37:11
like
37:12
uh avistad is a courtroom movie
37:14
mississippi burning courtroom movie to
37:16
kill a mockingbird courtroom movie
37:17
and there’s a reason for that because
37:18
the idea is sure the system screws you
37:20
black people but the system is
37:22
also it just has some flaws and if you
37:24
just engage in the system the system
37:25
will save you and court represents that
37:27
right so
37:27
so many of the movies about black life
37:30
have been said in the courtroom
37:32
in other words to say the system may
37:34
fail you but then it corrects itself so
37:36
don’t worry going outside the system
37:38
and we’ve been going outside the system
37:39
particularly for the last year where you
37:41
have a massive black people saying the
37:42
system isn’t working for us and we need
37:44
major changes not just some money
37:47
sprinkled not a couple of reforms we
37:49
want
37:49
some kind of uprooting and like how we
37:51
believe in that is obviously a range you
37:53
have you know full abolitionists and you
37:54
have people that aren’t but
37:55
you know like as a whole i would say
37:57
most people in the black community we
37:59
don’t agree on what that looks like
38:00
but we agree that something needs to
38:02
change you know in more profound ways
38:04
and so what i’ve really seen from the
38:06
chauvin verdict is so many people trying
38:08
to take that as like oh good the job’s
38:10
done like
38:11
it’s like that’s one verdict like that’s
38:13
the first cop like ever
38:14
to be convicted of murder you know like
38:17
literally in minneapolis is the first
38:18
cop and like
38:19
i mean normally even when they get
38:22
convicted like what did um the quan
38:23
mcdonald’s killer get six years you know
38:25
like they’re not even giving them the
38:26
100 years that you get as black youth
38:28
you know for stealing candy or whatever
38:30
um so yeah i also find it really
38:32
interesting how they’ve tried to make
38:33
this verdict even though the whole
38:34
movement was black people basically
38:36
being like we need to burn it down
38:38
they’ve tried to flip that to be like oh
38:39
no we can preserve the system
38:41
don’t worry black people you can still
38:43
use our system so
38:44
that’s i i think a sort of final
38:46
indignity that’s that’s happened
38:48
in this case you know even before we got
38:51
the verdict
38:52
sarah from a black person’s perspective
38:56
and a black media person’s perspective
38:59
what did you think about the trial
39:02
media coverage wise and if you can’t
39:04
take off a non-media
39:06
hat if you can in regards to that also
39:09
after that like cesar’s
39:11
cesar’s opinion on our thoughts on the
39:13
trial itself
39:14
before the verdict was put out
39:18
um so
39:23
i i noticed that there seemed to be a
39:26
very
39:26
sort of careful attempt at humanizing
39:29
george floyd
39:31
because as you saw in in in the court
39:34
all the only game the defense had
39:38
was to dehumanize and pathologize
39:42
this man human being oh he had drugs oh
39:45
he would he had already had run-ins oh
39:48
this oh
39:48
that you know and uh the media
39:52
not except fox news aon and all of those
39:57
um you know explained what
40:00
uh right yeah the right yeah
40:05
everybody else was being really careful
40:08
to
40:08
um humanize him and you know i find it
40:12
helps in the united states
40:14
that uh over the last 20 years there’s
40:16
sort of been a
40:17
a rise in prominence
40:22
of black commentators you know
40:25
mark lamont hill you know uh
40:28
joy reid who actually a whole bunch of
40:30
them who have their own shows
40:33
on cable news network and who are on all
40:36
day
40:36
on the weekend all the time everywhere
40:39
so that
40:40
there’s that counter narrative that’s
40:43
going on at the same time as
40:45
whatever’s going on in the mainstream so
40:47
i found that
40:49
there seemed to be a very careful
40:52
deliberate
40:53
attempt uh to humanize him
40:56
and uh i have to i you know i’m going to
40:59
admit i watch msnbc all the time
41:01
uh because i want information
41:05
i i just i don’t want just propaganda
41:07
you know i want
41:08
actual information and um
41:13
it’s interesting how they um
41:16
they were showing the difference between
41:18
what happened with brianna taylor
41:20
and what happened in this case uh
41:22
notwithstanding the fact that
41:25
george’s uh murder was actually filmed
41:27
and was on tv
41:28
constantly for a while the attorneys
41:32
general
41:33
black attorneys general but two
41:36
different outcomes
41:37
and right in my head like i kept
41:40
thinking
41:40
daniel cameron uh keith ellis and daniel
41:43
cameron
41:45
it’s not just representation that
41:48
matters
41:49
it doesn’t matter if it’s a black guy
41:51
that’s there that’s the police chief
41:53
that’s the attorney general that’s the
41:55
prosecutor that’s a no
41:57
if that person is not intent on actually
42:00
applying true justice like daniel
42:04
cameron was
42:04
not in kentucky
42:08
you’re not getting justice so it’s like
42:11
a
42:11
in my head all the time it was like a
42:13
tale of two
42:16
two situations going at the same time i
42:18
have to say though i i was relieved
42:21
i wasn’t elated or celebratory i was
42:24
relieved i have
42:25
i have family in minneapolis they went
42:28
through last summer
42:29
they went i bought this t-shirt in
42:32
minneapolis
42:34
a year after the michael brown thing
42:37
happened
42:38
and i didn’t want them to have to now go
42:40
through this whole thing again
42:41
with the you know the vandalism and the
42:43
violence and all of that stuff so i was
42:46
really nervous but like
42:49
l i don’t think that you know it’s
42:51
system-wide and
42:52
the president vice president rightly
42:54
said no this is one
42:55
case there needs to be a system-wide
42:58
sort of you know re reviewing
43:02
of what’s going on and i’m glad to see
43:04
that they’ve decided to
43:05
start with the minneapolis police
43:08
department when it comes to
43:09
examining police practices
43:14
cesar
43:17
you’re laughing again oh boy
43:20
thank you sarah i had not thought of the
43:23
i had not thought of the brianna taylor
43:26
and george floyd at the same time
43:28
in terms of contrast but i love what you
43:31
said about
43:32
daniel cameron and you know as a
43:35
pan-africanist let us never forget that
43:38
our heroes
43:39
our leaders are women on the battlefield
43:42
uh the fathers of independence of
43:44
african countries and so many
43:46
caribbean leaders and black american
43:49
afro-brazilian leaders were betrayed by
43:51
womb
43:52
their own people people not all skin
43:56
folk
43:56
are king folk daniel cameron in aiming
43:59
to be uh
44:00
hoping to become a supreme court juror a
44:03
judge
44:04
being a black magger of course he sided
44:07
with the white conservatives but
44:09
it’s not about him uh this is about
44:12
george floyd but george floyd as someone
44:15
said
44:16
is the tree that hides a far bigger
44:19
forest
44:20
the forest of so many names where we say
44:22
say his name
44:23
say her name and by his and her there
44:26
are so many
44:27
black children black seniors
44:31
that we must not forget it’s a story uh
44:35
in america where we can go all the way
44:38
back to emmett till in 1955
44:41
and before that never forget that if my
44:45
if my recollection is accurate between
44:47
1877
44:49
so right after the civil war era and
44:52
black reconstruction and political
44:54
participation in the south from 1877
44:57
to 1950 over 4 000 blacks were lynched
45:01
aka beat castrated burned
45:05
hanged over 4 000 black people
45:08
and before that much much more
45:12
really since 1619 legally here but
45:16
really it’s the story of slavery
45:18
colonization segregation systemic racism
45:22
from canada yes canada as well
45:25
all the way to brazil and of course
45:28
africa
45:28
oceania etc so what i would really say
45:31
regarding the trial
45:34
i mean the cards were visible from the
45:37
start
45:38
we basically had a prosecution that had
45:42
a recorded murder on tape for all to see
45:46
and we had a defense that very bluntly
45:50
intended to so adapt in terms of
45:54
action of a white male cop versus
45:58
pathologizing criminalizing a black man
46:03
aka making him pass as uh
46:06
a drug user and as we’re saying
46:09
we were talking about the accountability
46:11
of our own black people
46:13
i hate to say her name but the candace
46:15
owens of the black community are nothing
46:18
else
46:18
but the black skin white mask and when i
46:20
say white mask i mean
46:22
a white kkk hood the agent
46:25
of white supremacist in the black
46:28
community
46:29
will further participate in dehumanizing
46:32
the george floyd
46:33
the brionna taylor the sandra bland the
46:36
trevor martin etc
46:39
everything was plain and clear
46:43
excellent job for the prosecution they
46:45
had professional uh
46:47
dr tobin the palmologist but also
46:51
dr baker uh the the doctor who basically
46:55
conducted conducted the first autopsy
46:58
and beyond of course uh george floyd’s
47:01
uh
47:02
girlfriend but also uh you know the
47:06
witnesses
47:07
the tears the humanity there’s something
47:10
i’d like for us to always remember
47:12
um george floyd’s girlfriend
47:16
if i’m correct i’m trying to make this
47:18
connection here
47:19
that i believe i read george floyd’s
47:21
girlfriend
47:22
was um
47:25
[Music]
47:26
i believe she was deontay right teacher
47:29
or she had been the auntie rights
47:30
teacher
47:32
and let us go back to 1955 where emmett
47:38
murdered and decays later
47:41
the woman the white woman one of those
47:43
original karen were lied
47:45
regarding uh what she went through
47:49
she was still free but emmett till
47:53
his death inspired notably
47:57
the civil rights movement and a certain
48:00
rosa parks yes it was arranged in
48:03
everyone but he really inspired them to
48:05
say
48:05
enough is enough we are not going to the
48:07
back of the bus
48:09
ultimately george floyd the trial the
48:11
direction of a trial
48:13
director is just one supremacist
48:16
racist murderous white cop amongst so
48:19
many
48:20
others and let’s not forget every day in
48:23
the usa at least three people get killed
48:25
and we can bet at least one of them
48:26
is a black person people have been
48:28
killed during the george
48:30
trial and ever since we have that white
48:33
woman kim
48:34
porter was shot down her right claiming
48:36
she confused with the taser
48:38
let’s not forget this police brutality
48:40
somehow doesn’t seem to occur
48:42
to uh jewish minorities to
48:45
uh chinese asian minorities
48:48
to some people it’s controversial but
48:50
you know what’s even more controversial
48:52
and i’m gonna finish here how long did
48:55
it take to pass the anti-asian hate
48:57
bill black people have been in america
49:01
for 400 years
49:02
ultimately as malcolm x said and malcolm
49:05
x
49:06
right behind me as our hero malcolm x
49:08
said
49:09
the black men and black women black
49:12
child
49:13
in america in the americas will not be
49:16
respected as long as africa will be weak
49:18
and africa cannot and will not be
49:20
respected as long as black people
49:22
worldwide are not respected the reason
49:24
the anti-asian
49:26
uh hate bill went so fast is because
49:29
the country called china is a strong
49:31
country it’s strong economically
49:33
it has strong communities those white
49:35
cops and there was a study that proved
49:37
that
49:37
a study in new york regarding the uh
49:39
frisk
49:40
the police risk that was very clear in
49:43
the recommendations to the white cops
49:45
they were not to go target the chinese
49:47
community
49:48
they were not to go target the jewish
49:50
communities they target the black
49:52
community because we are seen as weak
49:54
we are seen as weak socioeconomically we
49:56
are seen as we in terms of identity
49:58
we divide ourselves in terms of party
50:00
allegiances
50:02
white parties allegiances white
50:03
religions etc etc and
50:06
what does he do we are not respected
50:09
and we become easily victims by any
50:12
means necessary we must free ourselves
50:14
allow me to stop here now l please go oh
50:17
i just wanted to very say quickly is yes
50:19
it’s interesting that some communities
50:21
who have uh weaponized the model
50:23
minority status that they’re giving
50:25
then want to adopt our models of social
50:27
protest like it’s cool to have to
50:29
protest i’m not denying obviously the
50:31
existence of anti-asian racism because
50:33
there’s racism to all groups
50:34
but i find it really interesting how
50:38
people when we hit the streets how
50:39
nobody stands beside us
50:41
and then our models of hitting the
50:42
streets and protesting it’s like
50:44
desirable so then people like oh my
50:46
chance to protest and like that’s
50:47
interesting because where were you
50:48
all these years and we’ve had to like
50:50
protest for the basics of
50:52
life um and again like i think there
50:56
needs to be a reckoning with how model
50:57
minority status contributes to
50:59
anti-blackness
51:00
and so how many people have consciously
51:03
distanced themselves from us repeatedly
51:05
right where
51:06
like affirmative action is bad for
51:08
asians you know we always hear that so
51:09
like this deliberate like anti-blackness
51:11
like giving them access means that
51:12
you know we can’t have the access we
51:14
deserve you know like they have those
51:15
like schools in new york where they buy
51:17
tests and like um you know but you won’t
51:19
even get a look in at those schools and
51:20
everyone’s fine with that
51:22
but then you know all of a sudden and i
51:24
obviously
51:25
i guess i have to say here before
51:26
somebody accuses me of something like i
51:28
have
51:28
chinese in my family so i guess i can be
51:31
black and
51:32
asian so i guess i get to comment on
51:33
this like
51:35
like you know i don’t know if we have to
51:36
give our identities in order to make you
51:38
know political commentary on this stuff
51:39
but
51:40
no i just find that interesting and
51:41
again it goes back to the same thing i
51:43
said that
51:43
you know everybody want to use us you
51:46
know when the time is right
51:47
um as paul mooney said everyone want to
51:49
be an n word no one want to be an n word
51:50
right and that’s
51:51
like the situation we’re always in right
51:53
so um
51:55
the minute we start even getting
51:56
anything it’s interesting how then
51:58
everybody has to be so angry that black
52:00
people are getting stuff and
52:01
what about this community what about
52:02
that community well you all fight for
52:03
yourselves you know
52:04
like we we’ve been out here setting the
52:06
model of all protests we fight for
52:08
everybody black women in particular
52:10
carry everybody on our backs at all
52:12
points you know we’re not allowed to say
52:13
or do anything unless we’ve like
52:15
checked for everybody but ourselves and
52:17
then
52:18
yeah people have the nerve to turn
52:19
around and talk about how we’re not
52:20
supporting this movement i’m not
52:21
supporting that movement as if people
52:22
have ever supported black life
52:24
including many black people as cesar has
52:27
pointed out like
52:28
we’re still working on our own people
52:29
because of internalized white supremacy
52:31
and like
52:32
what they put in the arts community is
52:34
like how they reward people like candace
52:36
owen
52:36
who’s making bank by doing this and was
52:39
by all accounts a democrat
52:41
and then just like saw the opportunity
52:42
financially to you know like become the
52:45
black trumper and we know those rewards
52:46
exist so we still have to like encounter
52:48
that and then we’re supposed to fight
52:49
for every other community but ourselves
52:50
too right
52:52
sarah go ahead yeah one thing i forgot
52:54
to mention that really struck me
52:56
was all those police officers who
53:00
testified against
53:01
chauvin you know that whole blue wall
53:04
thing
53:05
uh yeah it crumbled for a minute but
53:07
that was a sweet minute
53:09
uh to see you know uh black current
53:12
police chief saying
53:14
yeah that’s not how we do that is wrong
53:17
and
53:17
white ex police chief saying uh no
53:21
that no that’s not save them proper
53:23
police conduct
53:24
and more of them just kept coming and
53:26
other experts saying no
53:28
so i’m hoping that this is sort of a
53:32
this is a signal for
53:35
the good cops that
53:40
if more of them would band together
53:44
and you know be doing the right thing
53:48
maybe there might be a shift and another
53:50
thing that was not lost on me
53:52
while this trial was going on uh of
53:56
derek chauvin
53:58
a former uh black female police officer
54:01
she finally like a black police officer
54:04
who did do the right thing
54:08
where yes in buffalo corial i forget her
54:11
last name
54:11
but her white male partner
54:15
was roughing up this one guy that he was
54:18
trying to arrest for whatever reason and
54:21
she got on top of him and
54:23
and pulled him off he punched her she
54:26
got fired
54:27
and she was deprived of her retirement
54:30
of her pension
54:32
yeah for 15 years yep and only like
54:35
during this trial
54:38
the story kind of got buried so just the
54:40
juxtaposition of
54:41
all kinds of things brianna taylor
54:43
daniel cameron
54:45
uh keith ellison chauvin corial in in
54:48
in buffalo and then of course dante
54:50
wright getting assassinated
54:52
around the same time and i think it’s
54:53
like 64 people got killed during this
54:56
trial like black people yeah
54:57
like it’s a huge amount so they kept
54:59
going and this is the thing is
55:01
my cynical reading as they were willing
55:03
to throw chauvin under the bus to
55:05
you know preserve the bigger system
55:06
right so then it’s like look i mean the
55:08
same thing can happen in ontario with um
55:10
you know doug ford passing you know
55:12
these
55:14
rules and then they’re like even the
55:15
cops are against it you know yes
55:18
terrible pr it’s not like cops are
55:20
against stopping people they’re not
55:21
stupid
55:22
an institution knows how to defend
55:24
itself and preserve itself
55:25
um says this the prison lawyer right
55:28
that uh sorry
55:29
cesar i’ll finish this earlier the
55:31
crisis is part of the life of an
55:33
institution
55:34
and that institutions experience crisis
55:35
and then they use that crisis
55:38
to reform themselves and that is what
55:40
extends their lifetime right
55:41
um so on the other side people always
55:43
say to activists like don’t waste a good
55:45
crisis right that
55:46
when there’s a crisis you have to sort
55:48
of try and get in there and push things
55:50
and try and push the crack because if
55:51
you don’t the institution will
55:52
reconstitute itself and claim
55:54
that they learn from that crisis you
55:55
know but what they’re doing is
55:57
preserving themselves
55:59
i’d be saying that and uh you know
56:03
sarah making the connections between all
56:05
these different events
56:07
al you talking in terms of the
56:08
institution preserving itself
56:11
i’d like to give a big shout out to one
56:13
of those uh
56:15
i don’t want to say unsung hero
56:18
i’m gonna say it’s important to say her
56:20
name but she’s alive she’s not dead
56:22
a young 17 year old darnella frazier
56:25
will be yes
56:27
she’s too dead bravely despite the cops
56:30
the four cops and by four cops
56:32
the asian cop was being very threatening
56:34
basically keeping the gate
56:36
for chauvin to commit the murder with
56:39
the two other cops
56:40
assisting him darnell frazier kept
56:42
recording
56:44
speaking about the blue wall of silence
56:47
or whatever that blue wall of cops and
56:49
blue lives matter
56:51
to what points would chief darwin do i
56:54
believe his name the black police chief
56:56
but also little zimmerman and some of
56:59
these other cops
57:00
and also other cops are traded in the
57:03
nation and in canada and
57:05
worldwide what say would they have been
57:09
outraged and would they have come to
57:11
speak up against the practices of
57:13
direction that dishonor
57:15
the badge if the young 17 year old had
57:18
not stood there for recording
57:21
if we did not live in an age of social
57:24
media and technology as internet to eric
57:27
let’s not forget uh rodney king
57:30
1992 i’m sorry if a bunch of black
57:33
people
57:34
black cops were to beat like that a
57:36
white person
57:37
i think we all know what would happen
57:39
there wouldn’t even be a trial
57:42
you know some of these internet uh memes
57:44
in terms of if the races were changed
57:46
and that direction was a black cop and
57:50
george floyd was a white man
57:51
would we even really have a trial this
57:54
is the same minneapolis where the year
57:56
prior
57:58
some american black cup muhammad no
58:01
fearing for his life shot at a white
58:04
woman
58:04
rush towards him in the middle of the
58:06
night you know that excuse that we’ve
58:07
heard
58:08
so much from white cops getting
58:10
scot-free
58:11
he feared for his life he got 12 years
58:13
in jail
58:15
and the family also got compensated
58:16
millions
58:18
that was justice are we really having
58:20
justice
58:21
or is this some type of appeasement
58:23
because now in a few weeks
58:25
we get to have uh the sentencing
58:30
he reached maximum of 40 years but what
58:32
is he really going to
58:35
let’s get forget that our sister sandra
58:37
bland
58:38
somehow committed suicide but we all
58:41
know she did it
58:43
this is the same system that may
58:45
sacrifice one of its own
58:47
aka direct chauvin but if there was no
58:50
darnell frasier to record it
58:53
if there was no social media and
58:55
internet to air it
58:57
and for people all the way to japan and
58:59
to
59:00
africa to brazil to
59:03
come on the streets in terms of
59:04
tarnishing the us image
59:07
i mean the us morality of giving lessons
59:10
to russia and china goes where
59:12
the russians and chinese leaders are
59:14
like this is how you treat you black
59:16
people
59:16
and it’s not to say russia and china are
59:18
not racist you know what happened last
59:20
year regarding
59:21
yeah yeah right
59:24
right frozen i i was gonna jump in
59:26
interesting during all this coverage i
59:28
think one of the most interesting
59:29
comments i heard
59:30
was that but let’s face it this is
59:33
really as ben cropper and r sharpton
59:35
said
59:35
i thought white supremacy was trying to
59:37
cut off of the air
59:38
uh as sharpton said it’s beyond
59:42
george floyd it’s beyond even black
59:45
lives matter
59:46
it’s really the reconning the
59:48
questioning of america’s soul
59:50
beyond even america justice
59:54
a nation founded by colonialism by
59:57
racism
59:59
and that has deep patriarchal homophobic
60:02
issues
60:04
xenophobic issues donation is america
60:08
it’s not just the land of the free
60:09
because you need to make a
60:11
check marks to define if you really are
60:13
free
60:15
i i’ll jump back in you froze for a
60:17
minute says aaron i talked over you so
60:19
my apologies
60:20
that one of the most interesting things
60:22
i heard during the whole trial was
60:23
there’s an interview on npr and the
60:25
interviewer asked one of the black
60:28
residents of minneapolis and what are
60:29
you thinking about this trial and he
60:31
said
60:32
black people in america we get laws but
60:35
we don’t get justice
60:39
and i think that was a very interesting
60:41
comment that stuck out to me that
60:43
i’m sure many bit black people not only
60:44
in america
60:46
but in this country we get laws
60:49
but we don’t get justice any final
60:53
comments before we end our conversation
60:55
go ahead sarah
60:56
yeah i’m wondering if like okay so
60:58
moving forward because we saw
61:01
how we saw how
61:04
in a case where you have a black
61:07
attorney general
61:09
who’s actually about civil rights
61:13
while applying the law that he’s about
61:15
civil rights because keith ellison
61:17
you know i remember when he was in
61:18
congress like he’s on the more
61:20
progressive end of the democratic
61:24
party um
61:28
so it proves to me that a certain
61:31
kind of representation matters
61:34
principled
61:36
ethical you know uh
61:39
and competent because ellison didn’t
61:41
just put together any old team
61:44
right he put together
61:47
a certain group of people who he knew
61:50
could do that job
61:51
he was given a mandate by that governor
61:54
and you know he had the uh
61:58
the legal and emotional intelligence to
62:01
figure out okay
62:02
this is this guy was playing chess not
62:04
checkers
62:06
like the other side right so i’m
62:09
wondering if
62:11
an increase in the number of ag’s with
62:14
that kind of
62:16
work ethic and competence and judges
62:20
that’s another thing i’m hoping
62:24
that if you color up the judicial system
62:28
across that country with
62:31
competent judges who actually are about
62:33
justice
62:34
so there’s the end okay so this is where
62:37
i’m gonna maybe be
62:38
a little bit of a disappoint for you
62:41
the previous president
62:45
loaded up the judiciary system
62:48
with republicans thank you i know
62:51
so this is where the concern is going to
62:53
be and this is why
62:55
the the next set of elections the
62:58
midterms yeah it’s going to be a real
63:00
fight because
63:01
again the the uh the progressive
63:05
state of minnesota is not universal
63:09
throughout the united states and plus
63:11
look here’s another
63:12
and i don’t want americans to get mad at
63:14
me but they’re still states in america
63:16
where
63:16
slavery is not and i’ll say hanging is
63:19
not illegal
63:21
yeah so my concern is
63:24
the judicial system yeah is all over the
63:27
place
63:28
yeah however one thing
63:31
that i’m really crossing my fingers
63:33
hoping and praying
63:34
that uh i think it’s a distant attorney
63:38
general or the
63:39
the person that biden wants in charge of
63:42
the civil rights division america
63:44
the justice department is that american
63:46
garland
63:48
no he’s the attorney general he’s a big
63:51
player
63:51
no i’m talking about the civil rights
63:53
division yeah which
63:55
deals with cases like this you know uh
63:58
police brutality cases and anti-black
64:02
hate and white supremacy and that sort
64:04
of thing
64:06
the republicans are trying to not have
64:09
her confirmed
64:10
because they know what she’s going to do
64:12
once she gets in
64:14
yeah so yes it’s it’s
64:17
you know this it’s disappointing that
64:19
there aren’t more
64:20
however if right at the top you have
64:23
someone
64:24
who is going to empower aegis like
64:27
ellison
64:27
etc across the country
64:31
there’s hope of some kind i agree that
64:34
there’s hope but also there’s a time
64:35
factor because
64:37
once we blink a few times there’s
64:38
another there’s the midterm election
64:40
then there’s another presidential
64:41
election
64:42
so some people are on the current
64:45
presidential say look
64:47
let’s get going because time never lost
64:49
a fight because again
64:51
let alone those fights aren’t short
64:52
fights they’re long fights
64:56
so just putting out there any other
64:58
final comments from our panel today
65:02
hell do you want to go ahead though i’m
65:05
good i think we’ve said everything so
65:07
and how can people get in contact with
65:09
you ms l jones while you’re in lockdown
65:12
um people can always email me
65:17
l.e.l.j.o.n.e.s.m.s.v.u that’s monthly
65:19
vincent university dot ca
65:21
as always my facebook is kind of hard to
65:23
get into and that’s it though but you
65:25
can always email me or
65:26
yeah catch me at all these events and
65:29
thing
65:29
thank you so much continue to stay safe
65:32
cesar um
65:36
um first of all i’d like to report some
65:38
uh i put probably a white supremacist in
65:41
the comments
65:42
by the name of paul graham and
65:43
criticizing
65:45
uh uh activist player lebron james
65:48
uh paul you are i see you i
65:51
i we we have to call out the racist we
65:53
have to call out
65:55
those that beyond the difference of
65:57
opinions
65:58
uh try to always push back on any black
66:01
advances this is what always happened
66:04
uh one thing that i wanted to address uh
66:06
sarah and yango
66:08
i agree 100 when she talked in terms of
66:10
uh
66:11
representation uh pan-africanism is not
66:14
simply about having
66:15
inclusivity of black people in the place
66:17
it’s about what type of black people
66:19
and as such remembering some of our
66:22
leaders uh
66:23
such as a fred hampton in the united
66:26
states
66:27
but also patricia mumbai and so many
66:29
others
66:30
it is not so much that our lives and our
66:33
destinies
66:34
are to be defined by white arab etc and
66:37
non-blacks
66:38
but it’s for us to define them and as
66:40
such in the black community we need to
66:42
keep elevating
66:44
the identity the racial pride
66:47
the ideology of our black children
66:51
youth but also adults to dare to be
66:54
black
66:55
unapologetically we saw it very well as
66:58
sarah was talking about daniel cameron
67:01
and interest
67:02
political interests in the mega movement
67:05
and we saw it so well with the defense
67:07
the prosecution sorry uh in the
67:10
direction trial
67:11
in which fact science the evidence that
67:15
everybody sees
67:16
was being addressed that’s basically
67:19
what i will say and i’m reachable of
67:21
course
67:22
uh my facebook cesar rimi
67:25
r-i-m-y uh people can reach me there
67:29
anytime no problem
67:32
and final lee to our special
67:35
guest of the day but a special guest
67:37
special friend in our hearts
67:39
sarah young and big fan of the show so
67:42
yes
67:44
yes uh yeah you know never mind the
67:46
haters there’s always gonna be
67:48
you know the white supremacists and the
67:50
haters who are going to
67:52
uh insult our athletes
67:55
and thank god for them you know lebron
67:58
our toronto raptors etc etc more power
68:02
to you keep doing what you do calling
68:04
kaepernick because we need
68:06
everybody all hands on deck here so i
68:09
can be reached
68:10
uh at the black on black hotmail
68:13
uh it’s uh black on black
68:16
eight nine one at hotmail.com
68:19
and like i said you can hear our show
68:21
every saturday
68:23
from 11 a.m to noon
68:26
at chuo 89.1 fm in ottawa or
68:30
online at chuo.fm
68:33
thank you very much for inviting me
68:36
honor and a pleasure thank you so much
68:38
thank you so much well it’s dr vibe here
68:40
i’m the host and producer of the
68:42
award-winning doctor vive show
68:44
the homo olympic conversations i’m the
68:46
host of epic conversations
68:47
2020 best podcast news
68:50
award winner and 2018 innovation award
68:53
winner given out by the canadian ethnic
68:55
media association
68:56
also once a month i host an online
68:58
broadcast
68:59
for fathers and dads the only one in the
69:01
world that is sponsored by dove men care
69:03
it’s also co-sponsored by dad central
69:06
dad central canada’s national fatherhood
69:08
organization and i’m also the kind of
69:10
the board chair
69:11
of the global food and drink initiative
69:13
whose goal is to showcase
69:15
blacks in the diaspora that are doing it
69:18
in food
69:19
wine and travel as always i’d like to
69:21
thank everyone who watched
69:22
live or on the replay it’s appreciated
69:24
not taking for granted
69:26
big also shout out to bia media and as
69:28
always when i close out i say live your
69:30
life as a dream
69:32
if you can dream it you can make it
69:33
sometimes you have to get smaller to get
69:35
stronger
69:36
block assumptions that aim bigger and
69:38
better aim higher and wider
69:39
love faith and respect and remember to
69:41
give yourself grace god bless
69:43
peace well keep the faith and take care
69:46
everyone
69:48
[Music]
70:14
do
70:16
[Music]
70:34
[Music]
71:22
you
—
You can contact El Jones via: [email protected]
You can contact Cesar Ndema-Moussa via: https://www.facebook.com/cesarrimyemery
You can contact Sarah Onyango via: http://www.blackhistoryottawa.org/
***
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Photo credit: Screenshot from video