Racist Gatineau Police Profile and Card Ottawa Black Man Twice in One Night
I might have to stop dating my girlfriend "across the border" in Gatineau if the racist cops over there keep this up.
Now,
I have been stopped many times by police since I got my driver's
license but usually for the offence of "driving while black".
This
includes the time I was driving from a dancing event around Rockliffe
Park and some apparently bored RCMP officer who didn't think a "young
black male" should be driving around there late at night starting to
tail me for five minutes for no reason just waiting to have some
contrived pretext to stop me.
But I digress. Let's talk about these two sets of "fine" officers in Gatineau tonight.
These two sets of officers take the prize for the most obvious set of racism I have had the pleasure to experience by the cops.
Tonight
I travelled to bus to Gatineau's top wine bar to meet up with friends.
I don't drink and drive and even when I drink, it's no more than half a
glass.
Sometime after 9:30 I leave to go on
the bus to see my girlfriend. But, when I'm at the stop I decide that I
should walk back to the wine bar on Montcalm to use their washroom,
While I'm walking back to the wine bar, some Gatineau cops driving up Montcalm stop me for no apparent reason.
I ask these "fine officers", "what's the problem officers." They tell me they saw me "walking funny".
I tell them I just came back from the wine bar with friends and I'm trying to get back there to use the washroom.
They then give me a "look" as if "black people" wouldn't be going to a classy wine bar.
I tell them you can call them if you like and verify my reservation.
Then then ask to see my "ID" because they insist that they way me "walking funny".
They then ask me what part of Ottawa I am from, and where am I going, and what I'm really doing there.
Here we have a classic case of "carding" and racial profiling.
For
my white friends who have never experienced "carding" this occurs when
some cop sees you out on the street and proceeds to spontaneously stop you and ask you
for ID not because you seem to be doing something illegal or because of
a complant but simply as a result of seeing a black male and wanting to
either simply harass or based upon the idea that "he must have
committed a crime but had not been caught yet".
So,
after this racist interrogation by police for 15 minutes as if I was back in
apartheid South Africa during the pass laws I was eventually "allowed"
to go to the washroom.
Little did I expect that this was only "Round 1" of my trip with racist Gatineau police.
So, that same night, I get off the bus and buy some peanuts before heading for my girlfriend's place.
Then after I across a residential street can you believe I get accosted once more by the Gatineau police?
Here's "Round 2". These fine officers started to harass me that they saw me walk across the "middle" of the street and not at the intersection.
I say, are you serious. That's a residential side street. It was well after 10 pm and absolutely no cars was on that street.
Do you know how many times I have seem "white francophone" dodge across very busy with absolutely no police interference.
So,
once more I have to answer dumb ass questions not related to any
criminal complaint like "What am I doing in that part of Gatineau?" etc
etc.
So, there you have it. My experience with a bunch of red neck Gatineau police hell bent on racist persecution.
I
ask the second set of Gatineau cops, is this an incident of racial
profiling?
All of a sudden they knew that they weren't speaking to one
of the non-educated "local Negros" they might be accustomed to dealing
with.
If a racist cop "cards" a black male, the last thing they want to deal with is an educated black male. That's "no fun" for them.
"Oh no!" they said. "We're just stopping you with a warning for your own safety."
Were
they serious? Crossing the middle of a residential street with no cars
on it is a safety issue for a grown-up? What an outrage.
There's
no point making a complaint on racial profiling though because the
worst demons on any police force always rise to the top, so complaining
about the "lower demons" is pointless.
Although
Canada is officially a multicultural society, racism is indeed alive
and well and especially among the police who perpetrate harassment
against young black males on a daily basis.
These
incidents with the Gatineau Police on the same time show just how
entrenched racism is within Quebec specifically and Canada in general.
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