Racist attack in Vancouver by 3 off-duty cops

Somehow I doubt that's the language they were using......

Even though this is already being discussed here:

http://www.rabble.ca/babble/national-news/when-canadian-cops-start-robbing-public-they-are-paid-protect-you-know-our-econ

I'm not sure if it makes sense to close it. Other mods have been consulted. While we wait for them to wake up, I'll add a comment.

The Globe link is the only place so far that noted that Mr.Khan was originally arrested when the uniformed police arrived, beheld their drunken buddies/comrades and a beaten bleeding brown man, and "knew" that the only logical thing to do would be to arrest the brown man.

This is the Canada that people of colour live in.

Thanks, Maysie. I meant to link to the other thread, but forgot. In fact, Mr. Khan's public statement IMO totally changes the focus and the gravity of the incident as originally reported (and as discussed in the other thread), and I felt that it belonged here.

I have stated before - and had to provide evidence to satisfy some babblers - that a worker in most unionized workplaces who engaged in far less brutal (even entirely non-criminal) behaviour than this with racial or sexual overtones would be unquestionably suspended without pay while awaiting the determination of their responsibility. And in cases anything remotely resembling this one, the union might be demanding swift judgment, but would NOT even be demanding that the accused be kept at work or on pay. NOTE: Suspensions with pay, or reassignment to other duties, in such situations are unheard of in "normal" sectors of the economy.

The actions and treatment of these police is an outrage - a statement that the police are a self-governing entity who are only marginally bound by accepted standards of social behaviour, especially when it comes to persons of colour and Aboriginal people. I realize we all already know this, but every incident must be brought to light and denounced in the light of day.

Unionist, I agree that with the information that we now know about this story that the discussion should continue here. 

Please see other comments on this issue in this now-closed thread:

http://www.rabble.ca/babble/national-news/when-canadian-cops-start-robbing-public-they-are-paid-protect-you-know-our-econ 

There was something odd about the story when it first came out, as a number of babblers noted. This new information now makes more sense, that there was some attempt to keep the cops-were-drunk out of it.

Thanks for bringing the unionized worker angle to this, Unionist. I think it's pretty clear to most that the police are indeed in a class by themselves, and being "suspended with pay" is something I actually think they invented as a media-friendly sounding punishment meant to appease the public, and not disciplinary in any way as an employer to a worker.

Last time I checked "suspension with pay" sounds a lot like a paid vacation, except you aren't using your vacation days. I think we can safely assume that Mr. Khan doesn't have vacation days and is certainly not paid very much in any case.

Yes, we must denounce racist behaviour, individual and institutional, when we see it.  

I hope Mr. Khan sues not only the three racist cops who beat him, but also the police department for the other racist cops who falsely arrested him.

Doesn't surprise me a bit, unfortunately.  Bad cop, no donut!

Interesting that the Globe closed the comments on the article, huh?  I wonder if they figured that the inevitable slew of racist comments from their online readers would reflect badly on their paper?

I also love how the Crown just can't decide whether the three pigs who beat this guy up should be charged with anything.  Gosh, it's just so hard to figure out!  Should we charge them with something or not?  Golly.

I wonder if the decision would be so difficult if it was three Sikh guys who beat up a white cop?  Gee, I'm sure the Crown would be just so racked with indecision about whether to charge them, too.

 The popular misconception is that the police are there to serve and protect YOU....it's not that way...they take oaths of loyalty to the queen, government and serve them. Go check it out....

They refer to themselves as a brotherhood (gang) and like a gang protect themselves and there ideology. Of course they are racists, perverts and killers within there ranks..I just wish BC would get there head out of the bong already.

 Often overlooked is the fact that police are just doing their job as outlined by the law writers...(our thick skinned government) ..they allow the racism..they promote it...they want it...they create it. It all starts at the top and trickles down. Your supposed to get angry at the little 20 something year old badge happy puke faced piggy nazi moron...just something to think about, should canadians get there heads "out of the bong".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkM5eyN8ytI&feature=user

Thread drift: I realize you didn't say so, but I would be surprised if anyone named "Khan" was a Sikh. End of drift.

On topic, does anyone know what this means (from the G&M story):

And would such an investigation be trumped in the event the Crown does decide to prosecute?

Oh, I'm sorry!  Why was I thinking that that the article said he was Sikh?  You're right, my apologies.  Anyhow, the analogy still stands.

Unionist what I take from that is:

"We normally wouldn't do anything to the officers involved, they do it so often and it's part of their job, but since there's been so much media attention on this particular case we have to say something to pretend to be accountable.

Hopefully people will forget and we can just put the officers back on patrol as usual with no harm to their careers, but if people still remember this in a month then we'll pick one to be the "fall guy" and let him take the blame for this whole "unfortunate incident" " 

this doesnt surprise me many times it happened to me cops will rob cash off ppl esp the gang unit esp if it just in ur poccet not in a wallet. The exuse? "all you niggers sell drugs" that what it is and doesnt surprise me that they won't do shit. A lot of white people need this stuff in the media to learn about it thought cuz whatever happens to us doesnt matter and is unknown.

The worst part is just that a lot of ppl wont believe it outside the hood. Tell it in the hood and you have bare ppl ready to fight it but outside they think ur lieing, or pulling the "race card". 

Yo off topic but wtf do they mean race card can someone explain this to me? So because I say racism exists and describe it im pulling a race card because they wanna live in their bubble? I know what it means but from a white persons veiw I don't so can someone explain it from that view? I don't think that to the avg ignorant white person (so not yall lol) the lives of ppl of color doesnt matter but I think that they just don't care enough like it aint a priority is this true?

Speaking as a white guy with some insight into how these things are seen collectively, white people find it inconvienient, disruptive, and frankly annoying to listen to people speaking above their station, to be reminded that people are not satisfied with their lot in the society that we have created.  Pulling the 'race card' is seen to be in bad form in our polite company, which to us is just another excuse and underhanded means to try and achieve something in life that you have not earned, unlike our own example of hard work and fairness for all.  White people do not 'get' systemic barriers based on race, because if it doesn't effect them, it simple doesn't exist.  It's true, it isn't our priority because there's nothing in it for us.

More to the issue of corrupt police,  white people have been propagandized into believing it doesn't happen here.  So, when someone complains about inappropriate, or criminal police activities-- even if the victim is white-- people tend to not believe the claims.

Relatively cheap video cameras, and cameras on cell phones seem to be changing this, however.

I do not think the police enjoy half the benifit of the doubt they used to enjoy with the general public.  

Now, if we could just educate Crowns Attourney and Judges to this reality....

slumberjacc where you being sarcastic? Hardwork and fairness for all? LOL I thought ppl wit brains were in this forum. Or are you sayin that how many feel? Don't wanna argue against sum1 who on the same side. and how is gettin shot by the cops anything to do with getting something you didn't work for? are we supposed to go up to every1 n say HEY US NIGGAS IS HUMANS TOO n do a lil dance in blaccface to make em happy? lol would that even be enough? FUCC DAT Guns up

No, not sarcastic.  You asked for an explanation from a white POV, and I provided one, such that it is.  I substituted the term 'collectively' to mean society as a whole.  Admittedly, it doesn't suffice to avoid wholesale generalization, although it does allow for exceptions to the norm.

Can you speak general folk Slumberjack?  

I liike how your comments cause me most thought.  Perhaps, we could try to connect with Rexdale_Punjabi.

I understood his disconnect with your comments but am not very good at trying to explain it.

So, for Rexdale_Punjabi, I think Slumberjack is trying to say, "White people don't get it."  Is that a fair summation Slumberjack?

Plenty more work is needed.

You are good at it actually RP, concisely summing it up well.  Trying to convey some of the essence of white privilege is always a dicey thing to do, at least for me it is, especially while grappling with my own.  Yes Rexdale Punjabi, that is how many feel, in my view.

Yeah, I remember when I first heard the term, "playing the race card".  It was during the OJ Simpson trial, when his defence lawyers went after that lying, racist police officer.  I remember at the time (I was in my early 20's), I totally bought into the "playing the race card" trope, and thought it was a completely bogus line of defence for this man who was so obviously (to my mind) guilty. I have since changed my mind.

Because at the time, I had absolutely no experience, as a young, white, middle-class woman who grew up in a white bread, middle-class suburb, with racial profiling, racist attacks by police, etc.  I still have no personal experience with this sort of thing from the police, being white, but since then, I've met lots of people of colour who have, and who have made me realize how privileged I have been my whole life.

Rexdale_Punjabi, welcome to babble!  Not to speak for Slumberjack, but I think he was honestly trying to answer your question based on his experience as a white person who has been exposed to this sort of racist attitude "from the inside".  He doesn't believe the views he wrote about, he's saying that those are the attitudes he sees when he hears white people talking about "playing the race card".  

Personally, I think there should be a new phrase: "Playing the 'race card' card."  That can be used to describe white people who dismiss accounts of of racism by labelling them as "playing the race card". :)

About his guilt or about the racism of the LAPD? One does not preclude the other. I felt it was a racist and prejudicial prosecution of a guilty man.

Yeah, I probably feel the same way, Cueball, but I also think that his lawyers established a legitimate "reasonable doubt" due to that racist and prejudicial prosecution.  Strangely enough, I came to that conclusion after reading (wait for it) Alan Dershowitz's book about the case.  (I know, I know!)

So while I personally think he did it, I'm not absolutely positive of it the way I used to be, and I am open to the question of whether my belief comes from the evidence only, or from racism, or maybe a lot of one and a little of the other, or vice versa.

Oh, I didn't answer your question though.  What I changed my mind about was whether or not his lawyers were "playing the race card" by focusing on Mark Fuhrman's history of racism, and the history of systemic racism within the LAPD.  I now think that's a perfectly legitimate line of defence because it goes to credibility, and frankly, I wouldn't put it past any of them to tamper with the evidence, which is what OJ's defence lawyers were trying to establish as an alternate theory.

yea aii Slumberjacc I get it I didn't think you were trying to say you had the point of view but yea they just don't get it and don't want to cuz some ppl told me they have kids read a book called Blacc Like Me and it like they only beleive racism happened in the 1960z if a white guy tells them. Im lookin at that book and how they describe it I had to read it in grade 8 (expulsions from the hood lol) and im like how this any different from today? and how is it suprising lol. They never read that book in the hood cuz we don't need a book tellin us about racism lol. One typical response to racism is Well I've never seen or faced it. I look at em like ur white n you hang out wit white kids n live in the kingsway.

West Vancouver officer pleads guilty to assault

Good. So we can take the word "alledged" out of the thread title. I highly recommend it be done.

I'll bet these scumbag cops are still being paid.

This type of police behaviour happens all the time in Sask. too. Aboriginal peoples even have a name for it, it is called the "Starlight Tours." Essentially what happens is that an Aboriginal, or other "brown" person, is taken to the outskirts of the city limits, actually a few kilometres out of the city. They are then forced to walk back into the city. This may sound trivial in the summer but in the winter there have been several cases within Saskatoon and Regina of people freezing to death. Is it murder? Not technically but obviously it is a rampant abuse of sanctioned power. The police often pick up individuals that are high and/or drunk so they cannot understand the violations and the abuse of their rights; the police also pick up people who are just being "public disturbances." These individuals who are picked up are not formally under arrest, they are merely removed from the city limits. Last winter was our coldest in 30 years and in those elements you can freeze to death in mere minutes. Check out the CBC story it sheds some light. 

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/aboriginals/starlighttours.html

It's enough to make you think of Dashiel Hammett as some kind of spirtual optimist.

They're preparing to slap this cop on the wrist. The hate crime aspect has simply been buried, because Phil Khan isn't sure which of the three thugs made the "brown person" comment:

Officer pleads guilty, says he was too drunk to remember assault

Sentencing takes place on July 29, but the "Crown" is only asking for 4-6 months.

Police are always getting away with this type of stuff when are we oing to stop giving them a licence to abuse and then protect them when they screw up?

I've changed the thread title.

Thanks for the update, Unionist.

fiidel_castro, I've heard about such horrific, illegal and racist practices, in Sask and in Winnipeg as well. Despicable.

I'm thinking we almost need a separate "sticky" thread for racist police behaviours. 

Have been thinking about this subject and it is  my view that the RCMP are attacking First Nations women, in a directly racist manner, by their failure to investigate their serial murders and missing persons reports.

There are women missing by the dozens in Prince George, Vancouver, Edmonton and Winnipeg, outside of those know to have been murdered.