American Racism is Bordering on Delusion

Why we must act now both in the U.S. and in Canada to end police brutality

The events of the past two weeks in the U.S. and beyond, point to a shifting in the environment that, for a brief moment, leaves open the possibility of long-lasting change. We cannot let this moment pass without leveraging it to authentically advance the rights of citizens who’ve grown tired of dying due to state-sanctioned, police-executed oppression and brutality. By allowing racism to become a weapon available for everyday use to rob Black people of their freedom to move and their right to be in control of their own bodies, we enable racism to continue unabated.

There are Amy Cooper wannabes all over this continent

We need a rapid move forward from a climate that produces the Amy Coopers of the world to one where such people have no credible ground upon which to stand.

Let me give you a quick refresher: Amy Cooper is the Canadian woman in New York City’s Central Park on May 25 who called the police to come to deal with an “African-American man who is threatening my life” after Christian Cooper, a Black man of no relation and an avid birdwatcher, asked her to leash her dog in an area of the park with hundreds of avian species where pets are required by local bylaw to be leashed at all times.

The protection of the lives of Black folk demands that we don’t allow White people in Canada to turn away from their own racial prejudice and racism as they project their shame onto America

This incident was the second of three dominoes that fell in rapid succession that led to nationwide protests against the treatment of Black people in American society. The first was the video of Ahmaud Arbery being chased down and shot to death while jogging in Georgia — a case in which the suspects were not arrested until more than two months later. The final straw was the death of George Floyd, murdered by police in Minneapolis when a cop kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes until he was dead. The release of the video showing the entire process from beginning to end was too horrific to be easily written off, and the fact that everyone was home or on restricted movements due to the COVID-19 pandemic meant that this time there wasn’t an easy excuse for looking away from the blatant racism on our TV screens.

White people in the United States have been forced to openly grapple with a reality that has been true since the time of George Washington: their nation is built on the twin foundations of the War for Independence and the institution of African chattel slavery. The United States of America was literally birthed in blood, oppression and violence.

There can be little confusion about the fact that what is coded into one’s DNA at birth will, at some point in development, make itself seen. The current manifestation of this truth is an ugly one for those of us outside of America to see. It is so repulsive and abhorrent that the natural instinct is to want to look away.

We cannot. Diverted eyes have denied the truth and stifled the quest for justice for long enough. The time for our American cousins to act is now, and we can help by not letting them ignore this moment like so many others before this one.

I have also encountered some White Canadians expressing the view that, while the killing of George Floyd was unjust and terrible, such extreme things don’t happen here in Canada.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Canadian media fail to report on domestic instances with the same gusto they have for police brutality involving Black people in the U.S. Meanwhile, accurate and consistent statistics for persons killed by police in Canada aren’t kept at all, much less subcategorized by race, gender or any other statistically useful characteristic. For these reasons, Canadians erroneously believe the phenomenon of unjustified state-sanctioned brutality against people of colour generally and Black people more specifically is a peculiarly American problem.

For the duration of this brief moment in which we’ve found ourselves, long-lasting change is possible

On April 7, 2020, in Brampton (just west of Toronto), 26-year-old D’Andre Campbell was shot dead after he had called 911 for assistance. He was killed in his own home in front of his sister, while he lay on the floor after being Tased by two officers. That is just one of the most recent instances going back decades in which the actions of Canadian police directly resulted in the death of a Black person.

The protection of the lives of Black folk demands that we don’t allow White people in Canada to turn away from their own racial prejudice and racism as they project their shame onto America. The moment demands that they fix the problems north of the border, too. We can’t let them off the hook that easily.

There are Amy Cooper wannabes all over this continent. They are the women who whisper behind a Black man’s back about his purportedly scary sexual aggressiveness after receiving some real or perceived slight. They are the people who fight for gender equality in business while they work to limit local entrepreneurs of colour trying to build businesses in their communities. They are board members for not-for-profit organizations who tell Black people that their complaints and feelings of insecurity or vulnerability are not worth their consideration. They are the CEOs who would rather stay silent in the hope the racism issues, once starved of oxygen, will be smothered and extinguished, rendering moot any responsibility for addressing them directly.

They execute these transgressions against Black, Indigenous and people of colour with the impunity that comes from knowing the power structures around them — be they local administrative boards, chambers of commerce, service clubs, government agencies, community organizations and the like — will inoculate them against any negative consequences for their actions.

Diverted eyes have denied the truth and stifled the quest for justice for long enough

No longer can these people be permitted to profit from privilege in this way. There must be a price to pay for continued attempts to sustain any racist power structure. Such individuals must come to learn that the dynamic around issues of race and racism has forever changed.

For the duration of this brief moment in which we’ve found ourselves, long-lasting change is possible. The Amy Coopers of the world must put down their cellphones, release their pets and find themselves suffering consequences for manipulating levers meant to maliciously cause harm or death to others.

We can’t let this moment slip — in America, in Canada, or anywhere else in the world.

Greg Frankson is a former Canadian national poetry slam champion with words published in collections, anthologies, audiovisual recordings and literary journals. He was the poet laureate for the International Initiative for Mental Health Leadership and on-air current affairs poetic commentator for CBC Radio One. Follow Greg on Twitter, Instagram and Medium (@greg_frankson).