The murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police on May 25 and the on-going massive popular protests in response demand that we recognize systemic racism directed towards Black people in the United States and Canada. The rage, anger, and despair we are witnessing on the streets reflect justified outrage at racist police violence and the deep pain and anguish it has left in its wake.

There are those who dismiss the significance of these events here by telling us that racist policing is more a U.S. problem, that such things don’t happen here in Canada, that we are fortunate to live in a country where multiculturalism is embraced, difference is valued and equality is enacted. Regrettably, as history and current events reveal, they are wrong. The fact is that racist police violence is central to Canadian history and remains very much with us today

Furthermore, Black, Indigenous, Muslim, Asian and other people of colour continue to be systematically excluded from full participation in Canada through personal and structural forms of discrimination, racism and colonialism.  Racism continues to be condoned, accepted and normalized through existing systems, including policing, health, education, housing, employment and immigration.

The London West NDP supports those, in London and beyond, peacefully assembling in protest against racist injustice at the hands of police forces. We demand that governments at all levels respect protesters’ constitutional right to assemble and take immediate, urgent action to eliminate the racist, excessive use of force by police.      

The London West NDP urges the Trudeau federal government and Ford Ontario government to commit, at a minimum, to implementing effective independent public mechanisms to hold police accountable for racist and excessive use of force.

We firmly endorse the call from Black leaders of numerous organizations, and supported by the Ontario NDP, to recognize anti-Black racism as a public health issue, and we urge that this recognition be enacted at all levels of government.

As New Democrats, we stand in solidarity with Black communities who call for immediate and long-term action to dismantle systemic racism. Governments must take concrete steps to work in partnership with racialized and Indigenous communities to eliminate all forms of injustice. Platitudes and statements of goodwill are not sufficient; action is urgently needed. To echo NDP MPs Lindsay Mathyssen and Matthew Green: Black lives matter, Indigenous lives matter, and justice matters.