One year since Jane Creba

[Abeja de Almirante]

I remember this day last year, when Jane Creba was shot by Black gangsters while shopping on Yonge Street. This was a thought provolking moment for me, as I'd always thought that Black and Jamaican crime didn't touch white Europeans such as myself, and thought more so that Carribean folk seemed satisfied to kill primarily one another. I rarely if ever ventured into the Jamaican and Black areas of Toronto, www.toronto.ca/demographi...maican.pdf such as Jane & Finch and Malvern, so I thought I was safe.

Jane Creba made me realise that no one is safe from Black and Jamaican violence in Toronto, as if a young white teenager shopping for Boxing Day Bargains can be shot dead by a group of Blacks in plain daylight, I could be next. As I said in an earlier post this year, I am admittedly quite afraid of groups of young Black males. I know that much of my fear is unreasonable and unfounded, as are most fears, but that's how I feel.

 

[adma]

I can smell heated politics in whatever response you have coming; but anyhoo, I'm actually impressed by how efficiently we've healed and moved on from the Creba shooting, with minimal lingering mass paranoia, etc. Toronto *is* the City That Works, after all...

 

[Mark Dowling]

healed? moved on from? Are those synonyms for "forgotten" now?

Louise Russo was 2004's Jane Creba - did we have a white/cute enough shooting victim to be the media's choice this year?

 

[Abeja de Almirante]

did we have a white/cute enough shooting victim to be the media's choice this year?

What we seem to be lacking each year is a white shooter.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Is this post a call to race wars or what?

Honestly, Abeja, try to be less blatant with your baiting, shall we? Otherwise, I might point out Free Dominion as an alternative instead.

AoD

 

[building babel]

Now that gun crime has dropped so dramatically, I do hope the City will reduce the huge portion of our property taxes that go towards fighting the supposed "crime wave", and put it instead into funding the arts or something. Or maybe just refund it to us.

 

[RJR123]

"What we seem to be lacking each year is a white shooter."

There is only a few days left in 2006 to top the above-noted sentence, which is in first place for "Stupidest Post of the Year."

 

[cassiusa]

"What we seem to be lacking each year is a white shooter."

Black guys have better (or worse depending on viewpoint) aim. White guys hit nothing but air.

 

[adma]

Montreal had a brown shooter

 

[vincebjs]

abeja, your comments are racist.

Just because most street criminals are of darker skin complexion, makes you fear all people of dark skin?

Focus not on the race of people, but at the attitude and culture.

 

[spmarshall]

I second the nomination of worst post/thread of 2006.

Anyone else remember Vivi Lemonis? The pretty, white, yuppie victim (and never-ending Sun fodder) of the 1990s? I admit though, that this case was in one way more "newsworthy" as it occured in such a brazen way, but also reinforced the "it could happen to you" fear mentality.

 

[SD2]

Just because most street criminals are of darker skin complexion, makes you fear all people of dark skin?

Focus not on the race of people, but at the attitude and culture.

Actually, I'm not sure how accurate that is. There are a fair number of caucasian street criminals.

 

[SD2]

I wonder how long it will be before Abeja assures us he's just like everyone else, and has even voted Liberal too!

 

[SD2]

Anyone else remember Vivi Lemonis? The pretty, white, yuppie victim (and never-ending Sun fodder) of the 1990s? I admit though, that this case was in one way more "newsworthy" as it occured in such a brazen way, but also reinforced the "it could happen to you" fear mentality.

I agree. There was another article posted here on UT that mentioned the Creba shooting as a 'catalyst for change'. It made me wonder why the deaths of many other victims wasn't catalyst enough. I'm not naive enough to think that race isn't at all a factor, but I think the location and timing really seared it into public consciousness.

 

[Observer Walt]

Well I think Abeja could have phrased his comment more tactfully. It may well be considered politically incorrect. However, let's acknowledge it, he takes straight aim at the thoughts of a lot of people. The outrage over Jane Creba, IMO, was not because she was white or cute; in fact the public outrage over that killing began before we knew anything at all about her. (It took well over 24 hours before her identity or anything about her were disclosed.) The outrage was because she was shot down in such a brazen manner on Yonge Street in full daylight, while going shopping. It could have been any one of us.

The comparisons to Louise Russo and Vivi Lemonis are well taken. Again they were engaged in innocent activities that any of us could have been doing. They weren't putting themselves at risk by hanging out in parking lots near Jane and Finch, or at so-called after-hours clubs. They did nothing wrong, or foolish in any way, but they paid the price.

There may well be some underlying racism involved in some people's attitudes. Who could deny that racism exists in our society, as in others? But the main reason for the public reactions to these situations is that they didn't involve the usual scenario of stupid thugs gunning down other stupid thugs over "turf", they were situations where any of us could see ourselves as having been the victim.

(As a quick side note, Louise Russo's attackers were not black, they were biker / organized crime idiots who got trigger-happy and shot at the wrong intended victim. The very real public outrage over her shooting had nothing to do with racism.)