Monday, June 28, 2010

"Street Harassment" Public Safety Alert in Toronto

From the Globe and Mail:
June 17: Public Safety Alert, Suspicious man

"It is reported that: - a man has been approaching women in these parks, attempting to start conversations with them, while not criminal in nature, the conversations have generally consisted of the women’s physical characteristics, asking them their names or invitations to attend restaurants."
At first I was going to write a post criticizing the police for wasting time on "street harassment" cases. Then it occurred to me that Canadian cities have certain differences compared to their American counterparts. The fact that Toronto is populated mostly by whites and Asians, rather than blacks and Mexicans, being one of them. Apparently, when the police don't have to respond to ten homicides and dozens of shootings every weekend, they have different priorities.

8 comments:

  1. I have noticed that as well. In small towns full of white kids, the police will be all over teenaged drinking and partying. In areas with lots of browns, tracking down gang murders and drug trafficing is the priority. In areas with lots of blacks, they can't even close the high profile crack houses. Teenage drinking gets an absolute free pass, stopping it is not even on the radar.

    Along the same lines, in a white school, you can discipline kids for cussing at each other or being too loud in class. In a brown school, you are happy if half the class is actually doing the assignment. In a black school you are happy in they aren't using knives in their many fights.

    It is easy to get annoyed at small town parochialism. But the alternatives can be quite sobering.

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  2. I've noticed that, too. In many suburbs, getting a minor in possession citation is practically a rite of passage, while in the inner cities people openly deal drugs on street corners.

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  3. TAS, Justin,
    Being from Philly, and having spent large amounts of time in Newark, NYC, ATL and B'More, I can tell you both that what youre saying wrt the cops in Black areas is untrue. I've seen countless raids by the cops on well known crack spots, and while teenage drinking and drug use among Black teens has been on the wane for years now, I recall very well seeing cops rolling up on corners and pouring out the 40s some kids would have, etc.

    You two need to actually get out among the Black folk more. That way, you'll know what you're talking about. :)

    O.

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  4. I never said that young blacks never get arrested for drug and alcohol use. It's just that the priorities are different in black areas vs. white areas.

    In white suburbs, the police have underage drinking task forces, while in black urban areas they have gang task forces.

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  5. TAS,
    Again, you don't know what you're talking about. I already told you, alcohol AND drug use among Black teens has been on the wane for quite some time now, in comparison to White teens. Look it up.

    Maybe those White areas actually need such programs. Ever thought about that?

    Like I said, you need to actually spend some time on the streets of B'More, Philly, NYC, ATL, etc, then you'll be a heck of a lot more informed when you go to opening your mouth.

    I'm just sayin.

    O.

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  6. "Again, you don't know what you're talking about. I already told you, alcohol AND drug use among Black teens has been on the wane for quite some time now, in comparison to White teens. Look it up."

    I did look it up. And I found that blacks are more likely to use drugs than whites.

    "Maybe those White areas actually need such programs. Ever thought about that?"

    Or it could be because the police don't have to deal with dozens of incidents of violence every weekend.

    "Like I said, you need to actually spend some time on the streets of B'More, Philly, NYC, ATL, etc, then you'll be a heck of a lot more informed when you go to opening your mouth."

    I've worked with and gone to school with enough blacks to understand them well enough.

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  7. Wait a minute...feminists tell us that men are "afraid" to ask out strong intelligent women; yet here women are criminalizing a man for doing just that.

    I
    just
    don't
    get
    it
    !

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  8. all white areas are no picnic either. people are people and are annoying wherever you go. it's usually just sheer number, more people more problems. then again small towns everyone talks and noses into your business.

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