Toronto Councillor Michael Thompson

Rookie of the year

He is the black Toronto city councillor, who has the guts to suggest the problem of gun violence amongst black youth requires reconsidering racial profiling by the police. Naturally, the socialist city councillors, like Pam McConnell, the socialist media, and the socialist-pleasing police brass, were all over this guy like flies on doo-doo. How could he suggest that young black people should be stopped and questioned at random when we know that 92% of them are innocent?

McConnell wanted Thompson to apologize for his remarks; after all, he is just a rookie councillor. This was the same dismissive accusation made against him when, two years ago, he appealed for more police officers to combat community erosion from increasing gun crime. However, the mayor and his socialist council choir, poohed-poohed all that, having already identified a proposed bridge to the Toronto islands as the citys most corrosive problem.

Now, of course, they see the wisdom of adding officers, and neither Miller nor McConnell has offered any apology for being wrong two years ago.

I am not suggesting, by congratulating Thompson, that I necessarily favour racial profiling. It is a two-edged blade and can be counter-productive. I applaud him because he was not afraid to say something controversial about a very distressing social problem that could only result in more discussion, and, perhaps some real action. This is a rare thing to see coming from a city councillor. Nearly all of them hide behind a thick fog of safe and impenetrable positions. Defense is always safer than offense.

Still, it is strange how virulent some people get over the idea of stopping innocent people to see if they have guns.

Thousands of law-abiding motorists get stopped on the highway and are questioned by police about drinking. We dont see a human rights issue with that if it results in the 8% of drivers who have been drinking getting pulled off the road.

Every international airport in the world will x-ray your luggage, pat you down, subject you to electronic search, ask you to remove your shoes, and, in some instances require you to disrobe, before allowing you to fly. How many terrorists are actually detected by these methods? I am guessing zero. So clearly, it is the 100% innocents who are the suspects. Much as we dislike this, we put up with it if we are reasonably confident we are going to be able to fly safely.

One of Thompsons angriest critics is the Toronto Stars municipal columnist, Royson James. Royson is a black immigrant from Jamaica. He has previously written columns about the invidious nature of racial profiling. He stated that he did not want his sons to be afraid of the police.

Thompson says that he is speaking on behalf of black youth who have become afraid to walk the streets, not because of the police, but because of other black youth.

I wonder how James would feel if he were to find his boys were arming themselves, not because they were involved in drugs or gangs, but simply because they were afraid of their fellow blacks, which proved to be the case in Boston a decade ago when that city experienced Torontos current phenomenon.

James pointed out that even in London, with the subway bombings, the police were not engaged in racial profiling. He failed to mention that the criminals they are trying to catch are suicide bombers who might trigger the explosives if they are approached for questioning. So the London police have adopted a policy of racial killing they shoot first.

Mayor Millers big idea is to round up all the registered guns in the homes of innocent citizens and lock them in a central storage. Last month, this lefty-windbag was telling us the problem was guns being smuggled from the United States where, according to him, gun laws are "insane." Now, he realizes the problem is really Mr. and Mrs. Joe Average registered gun owner so much for the value of our "sane" gun laws.

It is not a problem to treat innocent gun owners as if they are criminals, but whatever we do, we must not treat innocent black youth as if they might be criminals.

Mr. Thompson, when Toronto might wake up to the fact it needs a non-ideological mayor who is prepared to think about the unthinkable, please consider running.

Gary Reid is a freelance writer and a public affairs consultant. Gary can be reached at .

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