[antiwar-van] March 16- Police Violence and Racism

[Harsha]

In commemoration of International Day Against Police Brutality, No One Is
Illegal-Vancouver invites you to films and discussion on
.

POLICE VIOLENCE AND RACISM

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Friday March 16, 6 pm
Rhizome Café
317 E. Broadway (corner Kingsway)
All Welcome. By Donation $0-$5
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FILMS AND SPEAKERS:

* FILM “TWO WORLDS COLLIDING”: One frigid night in January 2000, an
Indigenous man, Darrell Night, finds himself dumped by two police officers
in -20° C temperatures on the city outskirts. When Darrell comes forward
with his story, he sets into motion a chain of events that includes a
major RCMP investigation, the conviction of the two officers who abandoned
him, and an inquiry into police involvement in the 1990 freezing death of
Neil Stonechild. This movie is a powerful and painful story of what came
to be knows as Saskatoon's infamous "freezing deaths".

*  NANDITA SHARMA on “Immigration policy and Immigration Enforcement as
Police Violence and State Control”. Although not frequently discussed as a
form of police violence, immigration policies and the
detention/deportation industry operate with great legitimacy in
perpetuating psychological and physical violence and displacement in the
lives of immigrants, refugees, migrant workers, and non-status communities
on a daily basis.

Nandita is active in transnational No Border campaigns. She is an
Assistant Professor and her recent book is entitled “Home Economics:
Nationalism and the Making of 'Migrant Workers' in Canada”.

* XANDRA IBARRA on “Race, Policing, and Gender Violence”: Women of colour
and indigenous women suffer disproportionately from gender violence,
police violence, police complicity, and legislated state violence. Yet the
institutionalization of police control against racialized and indigenous
communities, including against women within these communities, has
actually made it harder and less likely that women will choose to access
the police or criminal justice system as a step to safety. Upon reporting
cases of sexual violence, many undocumented women, for example, have found
themselves or their family members deported. There is an urgent need to
envision alternatives that ensure the safety of survivors of
patriarchical/gender violence beyond the mechanisms of state control that
further the criminalization and racist stereotyping of our communities.

XANDRA is a radical queer Chicana feminist organizer at Communities
Against Rape and Abuse in Seattle, a local performance artist, and a
member of the national steering committee of INCITE! Women of Colour
Against Violence.

* ALSO AVAILABLE AT THE EVENT: COLOR OF VIOLENCE: THE INCITE! ANTHOLOGY!
Incite! Women of Color Against Violence, a US-based organization of
radical feminists of color, has launched an anthology demanding that we
address violence against women of color in all its forms, including
interpersonal violence, such as sexual and domestic violence, and state
violence, such as police brutality, militarism, attacks on immigrants and
Indian treaty rights, the proliferation of prisons, economic
neo-colonialism, and violence from the medical industry. Color of
Violence: The INCITE! Anthology presents the fierce and vital writing of
33 visionary radical women of color. And unlike most examinations of
violence against women that recast them as “victims,” this pathbreaking
collection highlights the work of survivors and activists in creating
strategies of resistance.

For more information contact No One is Illegal-Vancouver:
Email: noii-van at resist.ca or Phone 778-885-0040
www.nooneisillegal.org

No more Stolen Lives!

BACKGROUND ON POLICE VIOLENCE (from United Against Police Violence) -
Police violence is predominantly directed against women and people of
colour.
- Police violence upholds and perpetuates colonization.
- Police violence in the form of institutionalized ineffectiveness has led
to the murder and disappearance of countless women.
- Police violence against women has created the conditions where women are
not properly protected from violent abuse.
- Police violence through the act of strip-searching is a form of sexual
assault.
- Police violence in the form of racial profiling specifically targets
communities of colour, refugees and immigrants, and aboriginal people to
police aggression.
- Police violence directed at poor people isolates poor people and
prevents them from accessing health services such as medical clinics and
homeless shelters.
- Police violence in the form of bureaucratic inaccessibility and a
culture of complicity make for the pursuit of justice against police
violence impossible.
- Police violence is used internationally to protect Canadian capital
interests abroad such as in countries currently occupied by Canadian
forces including Haiti and Afghanistan.
- Police violence in the form of complacency allows the ongoing violence
against gays, lesbians, and transgender people.
- Police violence and the threat of violence dissuades otherwise peaceful
protest.