Picking sides won’t fix things

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/03/2021 (1722 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

I’VE been in the justice game for a while. I’ve administered, educated, researched and abstracted, and I’ve protested, sat around government tables, worked with community members and agencies, testified before Senate commissions, and written my share of policy documents and reports.

I’ve done all sorts of justice-y things. I’ve also watched and observed. I have been told I embrace the skill of thinking before speaking. I think I’d like to speak now.

Policing in Winnipeg is at a crossroads. It’s not hard to see, but it’s difficult to watch. It’s troubling to bear witness to the digging in of policing bodies, doing what they are trained to do — be assertive, defensive, protective — always on guard for the worst. An organization that can’t seem to (or refuses to) see its own deficits. I understand it’s not easy, but isn’t admitting you have a problem the first step?

The problems are obvious, so much so that officers themselves have immense difficulty reconciling them, to the point that one recently resorted to taking his own life. How on Earth does it get to this type of decision? And how ridiculous is it to lay blame for such a tragedy at the feet of individuals who passionately fight for justice?

For a long time, and in a heightened way last summer, I’ve witnessed the passion and intelligence of groups that call for defunding and abolition. They bring attention to creative ways of solving complex social problems — solutions that don’t require guns, courts and prisons. And they do so with well-researched and compelling evidence to back their claims.

While they may be demanding, they are far from being terrorist groups. They are learned citizens who have been shunned, ridiculed and ignored by bodies that have the power to make a difference. I was aghast — and am still without words — when I heard the chair of the police board shush a community member’s police budget presentation that began by reciting the names of lives lost at the hands of police.

Yes, you read that right — the chair actually stopped the presenter, mid-sentence, mid-name of a lost life, to declare such information irrelevant. I share the outrage felt by many that a high-speed chase to catch a car and liquor thief ended in the death of a 16-year-old child.

It’s beyond unfortunate we are in a current moment of neoliberal populism in which the only option is to choose a side — as if this is an episode of The Masked Singer and we have to vote for our favourite. We don’t. We don’t have to pick a side. But in the face of increasing numbers of lost lives, we are obligated to be on the side of compassion.

The Golden Globe winner for best director said in her speech, “Compassion is the breakdown of all the barriers between us. A heart-to-heart pounding. Your pain is my pain. It’s mingled and shared between us.” That’s some powerful stuff. The time to pick sides is over, because there is more than enough pain to share. That it is time for vision and leadership is strikingly obvious.

Other jurisdictions have moved forward. Calgary and Toronto have tried and, although things didn’t change substantially, in a spirited way they are at least sowing the seeds of compassion. Calgary took four days to debate a new budget, with the police leading the way by presenting to city council a budget with cuts built into it.

The police chief publicly stated he would accept cuts to his budget if they translated to reduced calls for service. And city council invested $8 million into examining alternative call mechanisms, particularly for such issues as mental-health checks.

Toronto city council rejected a cut to the budget but passed a motion to reform that city’s police department’s responses to those in crisis. Similar to Calgary, Toronto is committed to rethinking responses to community members in need, and is allocating funds to do so. Councillors also committed to anti-racism measures. They are listening. And while not every line officer or activist may agree, they are engaging in compassion.

My mom used to say, “Do you want to be right, or do you want to make a difference?” I have always been attracted to justice because it’s about making a difference. Why can’t we think that way in Winnipeg? Why have people resorted to “My way or the highway” demands — boycotting restaurants, shaming people on social media, and shushing people in public forums?

Such actions are the opposite of compassion.

Kelly Gorkoff is chair of the department of criminal justice at the University of Winnipeg.