Show Notes
Transcript available HERE.
Content note: this episode is about racial profiling “I'm aware that any time I have an interaction with police that my life could be in danger-- or my freedom.” - Gyasi Symonds After he was accused of jaywalking and then followed back to his workplace, Gyasi Symonds won his racial profiling case against the Halifax Regional Police. But street surveillance of Black people continues across the country. What's behind calls to defund the police in Canada and what does public safety mean? Does it really mean more police on the streets?
We learn from El Jones about the history of defunding the police and abolition, and how technology tends to exacerbate surveillance issues that already exist. We then cross the country to meet Tonye Aganaba who organizes with Vancouver’s abolitionist group defund604, to hear about their work and the people’s budget they conducted. Finally, we sit down with Chuka Ejeckam, a political researcher who talks us through some of his research on comparative police budgets and breaks down the Vancouver Police Department’s video game-style recruitment content on social media. Further resources:
Carding and Anti-Black Racism in Canada - Amnesty International Canada
TAKE ACTION: Canada: Stop Anti-Black Racism and Overpolicing - Amnesty International Canada
Anti-Black Racism and Policing: Keep up the Pressure - Amnesty International Canada
Halifax, Nova Scotia: Street Checks Report (March 2019), Scot Wortley
Defunding the Police: Defining the Way Forward for HRP Tari Ajadi, Dr. El Jones, Harry Critchley, Julia Rodgers
BOOK: Simone Browne “Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness”
Defund604 Network and their People’s Budget
Chuka Ejeckam “Defunding the VPD is an investment in public safety and collective well-being”
Africville Forever – a podcast about Africville, Nova Scotia
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More from Rights Back At You
Shownotes Episode 3 Transcript available HERE. Content note: this episode contains mentions of sexual violence “I feel like people would have cared more… about this injustice if I had just died.” - Rowa Mohamed Rowa Mohamed showed up to support her neighbours at an encampment eviction and was injured by police during the protest. Her experience of violence is not unusual – Black Muslim women are often treated with suspicion, like they don’t belong. What happens when people “fight crime” with home surveillance technology and treat their own neighbours as suspects? We chat with Hannan Mohamud about the surveillance of Muslims and the proposed “barbaric practices hotline”, connect with Ottawa’s Coalition Against More Surveillance and the resistance they’re engaged in to stop proliferation of surveillance technology in their neighbourhoods, and finally we connect with Dr. Chris Gilliard who walks us through the pitfalls of luxury surveillance and how doorbell surveillance cameras threaten our human rights. Further resources:
Content note: episode contains mentions of death, injection drug use and brief mention of suicide around [4:02] - [5:46]
Content note: brief description of death by police around [19:15]-[19:40]
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