No More Criminalizing Black Dissent, No More Monuments to Racists and Racism

An Open Letter in Support of Black Lives Matter Toronto, the Arrestees and Artists

We, a group of artists, arts administrators, curators and arts professionals, are writing to express our concern and anger over the criminalization of peaceful protest, artistic intervention, dissent and Black action. Black Lives Matter Toronto recently organized a peaceful intervention to call attention to the ways that Canadian society pays tribute to racism and colonial violence through the statues of Egerton Ryerson, John A. Macdonald, and King Edward VII. This protest was met with an egregious amount of police harassment and intimidation tactics. 

It resulted in over 20 police officers kettling three of the attendees, arresting them, and holding them for over 16 hours without explanation, or confirmation. Access to legal counsel was not provided for over five hours. The artists were detained without access to medical attention and without vital medication. When questioned, the police misled the public and changed their story multiple times throughout the day. BLM called for a 6:00 pm rally to call for the release of the artists. At 5:24 pm the police issued a press release stating that two out of the three artists had been released. BLM members were unable to reach their 'released' colleagues. After the press left, some time around 8:00 pm, the police changed their story and stated that all three were still detained.

The statues are unquestionably racist. Egerton Ryerson was a principal architect in the development of the Residential School System in Canada, a genocidal system that terrorized generations of Indigenous children and their families. He also supported segregated schooling that separated Black children from white children.

Sir John A. Macdonald created and promoted genocidal policies, and oversaw the intentional starvation of Indigenous communities, resulting in the deaths of more than 10,000 people between 1800-55. Macdonald had close ties to the Maafa, commonly referred to as the slave trade, in the Americas and was a vocal supporter of the pro-slavery Confederacy during the American Civil War.

The statue of King Edward VII was a colonial monument originally installed in a public square in Delhi, India. Removed by the Indian people after Independence, it was brought to Canada by a private interest, and was installed, even against the wishes of the then City Council, in one of Toronto's most well-loved public spaces.

Artistic interventions on monuments have a long and well established history. Monuments are not symbols of history but rather, symbols of intentional emphasis. Artistic responses to the existence of these monuments is both protected political speech and a recognized artistic practice.

We affirm our position that these monuments honour legacies of racial violence, segregation and genocide, and that their presence in public space emphasizes that the lives and histories of Black and Indigenous people are not valued in spaces that we all share. These monuments are physical embodiments of state-sanctioned systems of oppression and contribute to the ongoing endangerment, imprisonment and murder of Black and Indigenous people.

These monuments must be removed. We affirm that the action by Black Lives Matter Toronto and their allies on Saturday was an artistic intervention to bring attention to and disrupt these narratives of white supremacy. There is no place for these monuments in our society and criminalizing those that attend protests calling for their removal and the defunding of police reinforces the deep rooted anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism in the Toronto Police force.

Together with BLMTO we demand:

- a removal of these monuments

- an end to criminalizing of peaceful protest and an end to the continued surveillance of BLMTO

- all charges be dropped against those detained in connection with the intervention: Jenna Reid, Danielle Smith and Daniel Gooch

- an immediate reduction of the existing $1.1 billion Toronto police budget by a minimum of 50% (as opposed to the 10% cut proposed by Toronto city councillors)

- The establishment of Black and Indigenous-led, Mad- and disability-informed mental health crisis support and response teams

Black Lives Matter Toronto are people, mostly young people, who choose to engage because they believe in the values of decency, democracy and justice. We demand leadership in a critical moment that is evolving into a social justice movement -- one that is truly reflective of communities of care, and that is grounded in integrity, love, compassion and true equality, for all.

To add your name as a signatory to this letter please email artistsXforXblackXlives@gmail.com.

To see full list of signatories click here

(July 23, 2020)


This article was published in

Volume 50 Number 28 - August 1, 2020

Article Link:
No More Criminalizing Black Dissent, No More Monuments to Racists and Racism - Artists in Support of Black Lives


    

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