Police brutality against visible minorities? (high school, law, statistics) - Vancouver - City-Data Forum

internat · 01-25-2009, 08:57 AM

Read Victim of alleged police bashing claims racial hatred played role in attack (http://www.globaltv.com/globaltv/national/story.html?id=1212420 - broken link)

I know they were off-duty. But it's worrying. Is it an isolated incident or a greater problem in B.C?

OhioUberAlles · 01-25-2009, 12:17 PM

In Vancouver visible minority should mean a White person, right? The city is majority non-white, so what's with your use of such terminology? Aside from it being an official term used by the Canadian government.

internat · 01-25-2009, 12:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OhioUberAlles

In Vancouver visible minority should mean a White person, right?

No, I do not mean whites although a blondish Afghan guy is a visible minority only according to statistics. The term got flaws.

Let us say people of color if that makes it easier. According to the victim the white guys physically attacked him while yelling "we don't like brown people".

Quote:

Aside from it being an official term used by the Canadian government.

I use it in the same way as the Canadian government. I know it's not the best term to use as the group is extremely diverse, and some would probably fall under the white category in USA.

I think you get the idea though.

Robynator · 01-25-2009, 01:44 PM

Everyone is Vancouver is shocked to say the least. This is definitely the first of its kind that I'm aware of. What worries people is that police officers, if they do get in trouble with the law (ie: discovered drunk driving, etc), they often get special treatment. The locals here are seriously concerned that this might happen to these police officers - one of them, for example, got a leave of absense *with* pay?!

runningbachk · 01-26-2009, 02:47 AM

Never have heard anything this bold by police officers, aside from the famous Taser incident at the Vancouver Airport.

Recently a couple officers got arrested for DUI, one was even a constable at the high school I graduated from last year.

OhioUberAlles · 01-26-2009, 08:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robynator

Everyone is Vancouver is shocked to say the least. This is definitely the first of its kind that I'm aware of. What worries people is that police officers, if they do get in trouble with the law (ie: discovered drunk driving, etc), they often get special treatment. The locals here are seriously concerned that this might happen to these police officers - one of them, for example, got a leave of absense *with* pay?!

This case has "hoax" written all over it. Who would use the words "brown people" during an assault. It's rather tame compared to some of the nasty insults and slurs out there. The guy could have least come up with some better slurs when he was making claims about what they called him.

Maybe he's learned from the American masters, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, how to hustle people for attention and money. Time will tell.

Moth · 01-26-2009, 11:34 AM

Best graffiti I ever saw was spray painted in the Montreal Metro:

"Help the Police. Beat yourself up."

EHnBC · 01-28-2009, 09:54 PM

[quote=OhioUberAlles;7175329]This case has "hoax" written all over it. Who would use the words "brown people" during an assault. It's rather tame compared to some of the nasty insults and slurs out there. The guy could have least come up with some better slurs when he was making claims about what they called him.

Maybe he's learned from the American masters, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, how to hustle people for attention and money. Time will tell.[/quote

I have to agree with you that the words "brown people" are rather tame. We were speaking of this earlier and think the racist slur was an afterthought on behalf of the "brown" man. Maybe he didn't think that the assault was that bad and needed something to add. Bad choice, makes people think the whole story is a hoax even with witness to the fact.

macmeal · 01-28-2009, 11:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moth

Best graffiti I ever saw was spray painted in the Montreal Metro:

"Help the Police. Beat yourself up."

I positively LOVE this....my even use it myself. Here's one for you, from a California men's restroom...

"In case of an Air Raid alert, hide under the urinal. It almost NEVER gets hit"...

BTW, the story, if true, IS disturbing; I'm the spouse of a 'visible minority' myself. Mostly we here in the States view Canada in general as a pretty well-managed 'enlightened' place, and BC in particular as more-or-less immune from such unfortunate incidents...( I WILL agree with the other poster, that it's difficult to imagine, that in the 'heat' of such an ugly outburst, that the phrase 'Brown People' would be used, instead of something a bit more 'earthy'...I suppose it's possible that Canada is so civilized, even the RACISTS use polite terms...?)

Robynator · 01-29-2009, 01:53 AM

If you're not from Vancouver, then perhaps you wouldn't believe the term "brown people" could have been used, but I believe it.

"Brown people" is not considered a racist term here, but a light-hearted term that people of Indian descent (Indian as in South Asian - from India) use to describe their race.

Ever since Vancouver was founded there has always been a very large immigrant population from India - many families who have been here for generations. Unfortunately due to a complex set of circumstances, a larger-than-average percentage of South Asian youth in Vancouver are involved in serious gang activities, so the local police have a certain relationship with that side of the community.

If the cops said, "we don't like brown people" - other than the obvious racist context in the way it was said - I believe it. The reality is, there is no common racial slang for people of Indian descent here in Vancouver. Now if the man was Chinese, that would have been an entirely different scenario.