By Kaisha Thompson, TMI Columnist
What has this country come to? How has this happened? When will this lunacy stop? These have been the thoughts on my mind and no doubt many others after watching the madness of the G20 in Toronto then again on Canada Day.
Canada, our home and native land, is the victim of police cruisers being firebombed, storefronts smashed and accused police brutality. It is unbelievable.
Canada hosted the G20 Summit which consisted of the head of states for the top twenty industrialized country. This list is comprised of: South Africa, Canada, Mexico, the United States of America, Argentina, Brazil, China, Japan, South Korea, India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Turkey, the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and Australia.
This G20 Summit however, was host not only to twenty of the world’s leaders but also to major controversies like the Fake Lake, the financial cost, the Black Bloc, security details and most importantly, violent and outrageous protesting.
It is important to note that I myself have been a protestor. I have held a sign, yelled through a megaphone and stood up for what I believed in. However, there is a significant difference between the protesting that I have done and the protesting of those in Toronto. Mine – being peaceful. Toronto – being chaotic and incredulous.
While most were peaceful, and harmless, it only takes a few bad apples to rally otherwise peaceful protestors into a destructive mob. The chaos that hit Ontario’s capital was extraordinary and unnecessary.
One of the prominent groups, self labeled as the Black Bloc, has been credited with the most damage. This damage includes firebombing two police cars, smashing storefront windows (Starbucks, American Apparel, and the Bay – to name a few). This group has been recognized by wearing all black and arming themselves with a variety of street weapons from hammers to bricks to ice picks.
How does damaging another person’s property, endangering lives of innocent bystanders and assaulting police officers help the cause that those protestors supposedly stood behind? This is not the Canada that I know and love. This is not the nation that I’m proud to live in.
My Canada does not include gas masked, hammer carrying, window smashing protestors. My Canada is not a place where police are bombarded with Ziploc bags of urine. My Canada should not be home to the fear that the police crossed their line of duty. My Canada has no place for cries of brutality and human rights violations.
Canada, what has happened to you? This is not my Canada.
