Toronto Gun Violence
About three weeks ago it seems someone flipped a switch somewhere which unleashed an unusual amount of gun violence in the city of Toronto. There have been shootings and deaths every night, mostly gang related. The is completely out of character for this city and is baffling to many, including me. In an attempt to solve the problem the mayor has decided that we need more police to patrol the affected areas. The majority of these incidents have occurred in so called "government housing."
All these incidents have involved black youth which has prompted community leaders to admit we have a serious problem in our own community. The residents have expressed there feelings and reasons why youth have taken to crime. Many youth feel desperate, depressed and see no opportunity or help available for them. Just living in these communities places this dark cloud on someone's future.
After listening to this I have my story to tell about racism and prejudice in this city. When it was time to decide on a high school to attend I picked an all boys catholic school which I went to for track meets and was very familiar with it. There were three of us who decided to go to this school, two Italians and a Portuguese. We were rejected and could not understand why. We had good grades and there were no other reasons given. Well after some probing my father found out the truth from one of my teachers who just happened to be Italian. The reason ready for it, they didn't want kids from this part of the city because we were "garbage". This part of the city was downtown Toronto with hard working Italians, Greeks and Portuguese families. Now for the really scary part, the principle of this all boys school was a priest and he was the one who interviewed us. Literally those words were coming from the catholic church and a priest. Let me just say I haven't been in a church for a long time.
Now what chance does someone who is black and living in social housing suppose to be told? The mayor wants business leaders to help and provide opportunities for youth. Why doesn't the mayor call the catholic church, they love to help if they can send a basket around and collect some money. The real problem is the racism that exists in this city, as an Italian I have had racist comments directed to me during the past three years. All these comments from one group and you can count on them, the same group that priest also belonged to, WASP's. Don't think I see the irony in my statement, just curious why in three years why an African, Asian, Jew, Greek, Russian or other has not directed racist comments towards to me?
Toronto's mayor is named David Miller and police chief Bill Blair, real reflection of the cultural make-up of this city.
All these incidents have involved black youth which has prompted community leaders to admit we have a serious problem in our own community. The residents have expressed there feelings and reasons why youth have taken to crime. Many youth feel desperate, depressed and see no opportunity or help available for them. Just living in these communities places this dark cloud on someone's future.
After listening to this I have my story to tell about racism and prejudice in this city. When it was time to decide on a high school to attend I picked an all boys catholic school which I went to for track meets and was very familiar with it. There were three of us who decided to go to this school, two Italians and a Portuguese. We were rejected and could not understand why. We had good grades and there were no other reasons given. Well after some probing my father found out the truth from one of my teachers who just happened to be Italian. The reason ready for it, they didn't want kids from this part of the city because we were "garbage". This part of the city was downtown Toronto with hard working Italians, Greeks and Portuguese families. Now for the really scary part, the principle of this all boys school was a priest and he was the one who interviewed us. Literally those words were coming from the catholic church and a priest. Let me just say I haven't been in a church for a long time.
Now what chance does someone who is black and living in social housing suppose to be told? The mayor wants business leaders to help and provide opportunities for youth. Why doesn't the mayor call the catholic church, they love to help if they can send a basket around and collect some money. The real problem is the racism that exists in this city, as an Italian I have had racist comments directed to me during the past three years. All these comments from one group and you can count on them, the same group that priest also belonged to, WASP's. Don't think I see the irony in my statement, just curious why in three years why an African, Asian, Jew, Greek, Russian or other has not directed racist comments towards to me?
Toronto's mayor is named David Miller and police chief Bill Blair, real reflection of the cultural make-up of this city.
posted by Adriano Permalink
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