HCAP Confronts Police and City Hall

Capp Lawson (Left) and Cole Webber (Right) -- Speakers for the Halifax Coalition against Poverty. Next Above Sex Trader workers, Street Youth, The Disabled, Black Youth march to Halifax PD. Above: Police Officers guard the Cop Shop; Above left: Protesters leave protest letter and depart the Cop Shop. (Pictures by F. Stanley Boyd)

"HCAP organized this demonstration in response to increased police repression in our city.

We're here as a group to confront the police and city council for the harassment, the discrimination, and the unrestrained abuse of power.

These are not just the actions of individual cops who are the "bad apples." This is a policing tactic that is infused in the Halifax police force and encouraged by city hall.

The police have been out and out targeting the poor, the homeless, street youth, people of colour, sex workers, and anyone else who doesn't hold power in our society.

These tactics of the police are used to keep people down, and keep people silent, and keep people divided. I don't think that the police or city council ever expected us to all band together with each other as allies to confront them. Refusing to submit to racist and classist policing is a real threat to the way City Hall and the police do business.

And this city IS run like a business.

City council is obsessed with "cleaning up tile streets" for the tourists or the wealthy who are gentrifying our neighbourhoods. The police are used to do city hall's dirty work. - It is much too clear who the police are out to serve and protect.

The police roam our streets looking for trouble. They are the most organized and violent gang around. But where are they when we actually need them? The police are not here to help- they are creating more problems than they solve.

HRM council is responsible for the increased repression we find on our streets.

They pass the budget of millions of dollars to hire more police, but then claim under-funding or that they are not responsible when it come to programs that would actually solve the problems that lead to poverty and violence.

Increased policing is not the answer.

We are dealing with a police force that has no accountability to the people. Who is policing the police? If you have a complaint to make about the police, you have to make it to the police.

There is no external or unbiased investigation. The police have shown over and over again that they will not take responsibility for racist and classist profiling. So we are going to City Hall to demand to be heard. Even though they denied us the right to be on the agenda today, this is still their concern.

We won't be written off or passed on like a hot potato from dept to dept. This is HRM's police dept and they have every ability to control their force.

Council has the ability to call off the intense ticketing and harassment campaign that targets street youth, the poor, and homeless. HRM has the ability to reallocate the money that is funneled into more police and offices like the one in Uniacke Square- put that money into programs that would actually be helpful.

What we have now is not responsible policing- this is criminalization of the poor.
And it is a concrete tactic to KEEP people poor and powerless. But we are not powerless.
The police use the tactic of fear to assert control.

But we are not afraid.

We are here today to make it clear that we will not be controlled and we will not be passive in the face of race and class discrimination and harassment.

I want to recognize and thank everyone for coming out today, especially those who combat the harassment and fear from the cops on a daily basis."

Comment:

It was shameful that more Black leaders and residents of the Square did not make a presence. It is noted how the local press and television news provided such poor coverage. Perhaps it was the time of day as news filing timeframes pressed the reporters to get the story out.

This is the text of Capp's speech as scanned into this computer so it is verbatim and in some cases the letter "o" may appear as the number "9".

As always, Well wishes,

F. Stanley Boyd