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Politically Incorrect

Vested interests

by Arthur Weinreb

August 18, 2003

Ontario’s Public Security Minister, Bob Runciman, came under fire for remarks that he made about the leadership within Toronto’s black community. Speaking about black-on-black violence that has recently plagued the city, Runciman blamed unnamed black leaders for the increasing amount of gun violence. The Minister said that there are leaders in the black community "who don’t accept any degree of responsibility for trying to solve the problem and challenges and misunderstandings. I think some folks here appear to have, in my view, a vested interest in seeing this kind of tension (the tension between the black community and the Toronto police) continue to exist. Some people are making a living off some of this…they certainly don’t seem focused on finding solutions."

Needless to say, Runciman’s comments provoked the usual predictable responses. Liberal MPP, Monte Kwinter, whose name connotes excellence in hot dogs rather than politics, went the furthest and called Runciman’s remarks racist. NDP leader, Howard Hampton, expressed his usual outrage (anyone ever notice that Howie gets outraged about practically everything).

There was shock, disdain, and horror in the wake of the Minister’s remarks, but no one seemed to challenge the veracity of what he said. No one came out and said what they were doing to attempt to stem the tide of black-on-black violence. Let’s take a look at what a couple of the leaders within the black community did say.

Dudley Laws, of the Black Action Defence Committee, was quoted as saying: "Until the relationship between our community and police improves, there will be no co-operation from our youth with police." So Laws is telling everyone, including witnesses to potential violent crimes, not to co-operate with the police. So it’s no wonder that when incidents take place, like the recent shootout in Rexdale near a 4-year-old child’s birthday party, involving 4 handguns and 4 victims, that no one, including the victims, would co-operate with the police. Dudley certainly doesn’t sound like a man who wants to find solutions to the violence.

Urban Alliance on Race Relations’ member and former Ontario NDP cabinet minister, Zanana Akande, called Runciman’s remarks "disgusting" and added, "What body of police would ask the public citizens (sic) to in some way do their job? Is it any different with white crime and black crime or any other colour-designated crime? It’s totally unacceptable."

Well, whether Akande likes it or not, there is the concept of black-on-black crime, which involves handguns and violence in certain areas of the city where blacks are not only the perpetrators but the victims as well. And the police have never asked the public to "do their jobs." What the police have asked the public to do is to act like responsible citizens and provide them with any information that they have, anonymously if they don’t want to go to the police, that pertains to the commission of violent crimes. Akande not only doesn’t offer solutions--she refuses to see the problem. To people like Akande, the murder of a child is somehow not as serious as real and perceived acts of racism.

The groups which these black leaders head are special interest groups and the leadership has, as with other groups, a vested interest in the need for the continuation of that group. This is nothing new or nothing that is limited to blacks. The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) would be absolutely lost if homelessness and poverty were ever eradicated. If the group truly wanted to help the homeless and the poor, they would have realized a long time ago that no one ever found accommodation because someone threw marbles or wire hoops in front of horses. And if the provincial Liberals win the next election, it won’t take OCAP, who have fought for the overthrow of the Tories since 1995, to turn on the new government. All special interest groups have so-called "vested interests," and what Runciman said was hardly new or revealing.

Former Lieutenant-Governor Lincoln Alexander criticized Runciman for not naming names and thereby tarring all black community leaders with the same brush. Alexander was right.

But so was Bob Runciman.