Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Solidarity with Michael Brown and Eric Garner

No One Is Illegal - Ottawa wishes to express the deepest sympathy to the families of Michael Brown and Eric Garner who are just two of the many Black people (including children) who have been killed by police in the past year. The violence perpetrated on Black lives by the police and other white supremacist institutions in the United States show the endemic role of anti-black racism in the criminal justice system. The same anti-black racism in Canada lead to the death of Jermaine Carby by the Peel Regional Police on September 24 and the subsequent lack of accountability by the police to his family's questions about his death. There is a long history of police violence towards Black lives in Canada.

We stand with you in outrage and demand justice.

Anti-black racism extends beyond policing practices to border and immigration enforcement, where Black migrants and refugees have become the targets of expulsion and attack. Canadian immigration policies devalue Black lives by deporting refugees into unsafe situations, tearing apart families, and uprooting lives they have established here in Canada. The moratorium on deportations to Haiti and Zimbabwe was recently ended, which cruelly exposes at least 3500 people to potential removal in the coming years, if not earlier.

We express our collective solidarity with Black people resisting the repressive and brutal practices of the Canadian state whether it's in our communities or at their borders.

We stand with you and renew our commitment to anti-racist resistance.