![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Bridgehead Revisited: When Rights Collide
Jun. 23rd, 2020 01:37 pmI have long been a fan of Bridgehead and the whole notion of fair trade. I remember when they had a shop on Sussex Drive and an annual catalogue of fair trade items you could order. I was even a regular customer of the Bridgehead coffee shop on Wellington Street where the Abdirahman Abdi incident occurred. It was a pleasant place to while away the time, with its comfy furniture and its corner with toys for the kids, and a good selection of city and neighbourhood newspapers.
The incident occurred nearly four years ago but has waxed and waned in the public spotlight ever since. It's definitely in "waxing" mode right now with all the anti-racism protests following the brutal killing of George Floyd by a white police officer in Minnesota, and then a march this past Saturday specifically organized by the Justice for Abdi Coalition. Today on CBC's Ottawa Morning, former Bridgehead CEO Tracey Clark was interviewed along with anti-racism advocate Farhia Ahmed. Clark offered an almost grovelling mea-culpa-style apology for her reaction to the incident four years ago:
https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1754840643742
But personally, I don't think she really had anything to apologize for. Here's the CBC news item from four years ago - I'll let you be the judge:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/bridgehead-owner-speaks-abdirahman-abdi-1.3708589
The thing is, there are a lot of sets of rights to be considered here. Abdi was a black man with a mental illness and and apparently a regular customer of the Wellington Street Bridgehead coffee shop. But whether he was in control of his actions or not, he was also physically strong and capable of considerable violence - as was clearly in evidence when he harassed and sexually assaulted at least half a dozen women. Could he have been treated more humanely? Yes. Did he deserve to die? No. But other people have rights too!
What about the women he assaulted? If even one of them had opted to pursue a complaint to the full extent of the law, we might be hearing a far more complex and convoluted story than what we're getting today. Not that I blame them - we have a long and not-so-proud history of painting female victims and survivors as guilty parties! I myself could tell my own story, though it's far less dramatic or traumatic. Back in the 1970s, a black security guard at the National Gallery of Canada (when it was still in the Lorne Building on Elgin Street) made a pass at me when I was there on a Thursday evening. I was wandering about the modern art when he asked something like "Are you staying at a hotel?" I said no and moved away to another artwork. Then I felt someone put a hand on my hair and shoulder. Startled, I looked around and he asked, "Are you scared?" "No," I said and escaped into a nearby stairwell. Fortunately that was the end of it. I did consider making a formal complaint but had the feeling that particular with him being black, my complaint would be construed as racist. And being busy with schoolwork and the like, it frankly felt like too much bother.
So anyway, my biggest concern would be for the women he assaulted. But I also feel for the staff and the other customers in the coffee shop. And also the police officers, who have a difficult job to do, are required to make split-second decisions and lack effective tools and social and community resources - and quite likely an adequate amount of training and education - to properly handle confrontations involving serious mental health problems.
So before we come out with knee-jerk demands to eliminate "police brutality" by "defunding" the police, let's take a cold hard look at how we treat ALL segments of society, whether that's black folks, women, the mentally ill, the poor or anyone we think of "different" or "other".
That's how things look to me. Am I missing something here?
The incident occurred nearly four years ago but has waxed and waned in the public spotlight ever since. It's definitely in "waxing" mode right now with all the anti-racism protests following the brutal killing of George Floyd by a white police officer in Minnesota, and then a march this past Saturday specifically organized by the Justice for Abdi Coalition. Today on CBC's Ottawa Morning, former Bridgehead CEO Tracey Clark was interviewed along with anti-racism advocate Farhia Ahmed. Clark offered an almost grovelling mea-culpa-style apology for her reaction to the incident four years ago:
https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1754840643742
But personally, I don't think she really had anything to apologize for. Here's the CBC news item from four years ago - I'll let you be the judge:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/bridgehead-owner-speaks-abdirahman-abdi-1.3708589
The thing is, there are a lot of sets of rights to be considered here. Abdi was a black man with a mental illness and and apparently a regular customer of the Wellington Street Bridgehead coffee shop. But whether he was in control of his actions or not, he was also physically strong and capable of considerable violence - as was clearly in evidence when he harassed and sexually assaulted at least half a dozen women. Could he have been treated more humanely? Yes. Did he deserve to die? No. But other people have rights too!
What about the women he assaulted? If even one of them had opted to pursue a complaint to the full extent of the law, we might be hearing a far more complex and convoluted story than what we're getting today. Not that I blame them - we have a long and not-so-proud history of painting female victims and survivors as guilty parties! I myself could tell my own story, though it's far less dramatic or traumatic. Back in the 1970s, a black security guard at the National Gallery of Canada (when it was still in the Lorne Building on Elgin Street) made a pass at me when I was there on a Thursday evening. I was wandering about the modern art when he asked something like "Are you staying at a hotel?" I said no and moved away to another artwork. Then I felt someone put a hand on my hair and shoulder. Startled, I looked around and he asked, "Are you scared?" "No," I said and escaped into a nearby stairwell. Fortunately that was the end of it. I did consider making a formal complaint but had the feeling that particular with him being black, my complaint would be construed as racist. And being busy with schoolwork and the like, it frankly felt like too much bother.
So anyway, my biggest concern would be for the women he assaulted. But I also feel for the staff and the other customers in the coffee shop. And also the police officers, who have a difficult job to do, are required to make split-second decisions and lack effective tools and social and community resources - and quite likely an adequate amount of training and education - to properly handle confrontations involving serious mental health problems.
So before we come out with knee-jerk demands to eliminate "police brutality" by "defunding" the police, let's take a cold hard look at how we treat ALL segments of society, whether that's black folks, women, the mentally ill, the poor or anyone we think of "different" or "other".
That's how things look to me. Am I missing something here?
