BY JOHN STALEY
TORONTO - After serving 23 months of a 28-month sentence
in Collins Bay penitentiary, 27-year-old Clifton Richards is
waiting for three judges to rule on his February 4 appeal to
overturn his frame-up conviction of assaulting cops and
resisting arrest. Because of his conviction, the Department
of Immigration has ordered his deportation back to Jamaica.
The deportation order has been stayed pending the court's
decision. Richards has been a permanent resident in Canada
since he was eight years old.
"They have convicted the whole family. We've been through hell over the past three years," Richards's companion, Angela Chung, told TV reporters on the steps of the court house after the appeal. With her was their five-year-old daughter, Cheyenne.
It was Richards's word against that of Constable Scott Aikman during his trial in February 1997. At that time Judge Paul Pickett of the Ontario Court ruled that Richards "was not ... a credible witness," and found him guilty.
Richards has explained that on the afternoon of Dec. 10, 1996, he was driving the family van accompanied by three friends. Aikman began to tail Richards, who pulled into a gas station. At this point his friends left. Aikman, who was watching from across the street, wrote in his notebook: "Male black driver, 25, wearing dark hat and yellow coat ... front passenger male, black 25 ... with short dreadlocks," and a female with "long dreads."
Aikman accused Richards of driving a stolen van, demanded his ID, and told him to get into the cruiser. When Richards refused, he was attacked by Aikman, who used his club. Richards tried to run but was quickly cornered. Aikman drew his gun calling out, "Freeze, nigger, or I'll blow your brains out." Richards was pepper sprayed, handcuffed, and beaten. In the hospital after his arrest, the doctor told Angela Chung that Richards may have been badly beaten in the head. He had in fact sustained injuries to his neck, shoulder, and head.
Aikman claims Richards was speeding, that he was stopped legally under the Highway Traffic Act, and the cop was the victim of an unprovoked attack by Richards, whom he thought was armed. Richards was not armed. Witnesses said he was not speeding. He was not driving a stolen vehicle.
Another case of "driving while Black"
Members of the Chung family and representatives of the
African-Canadian Legal Clinic, an organization of Black
lawyers that is backing Richards's appeal, attended the
Ontario Court of Appeal hearing at the court house in
downtown Toronto.
Defense lawyer David Tanovich argued that Richard's arrest in 1996 was illegal since the circumstantial evidence showed that it was not based on alleged offenses under the Highway Traffic Act, but was in reality a criminal investigation by the cops based solely on the color of Richard's skin.
A representative of the African-Canadian Legal Clinic told the court that the 1995 Ontario provincial Commission on Systemic Racism in the Ontario Criminal Justice System reported that Black men between the ages of 25 and 40 are much more likely than white or Chinese men to be pulled over by cops. That study showed that nearly 50 percent of young Black men reported being stopped by police two or more times in two years.
In response, the government lawyer argued social context was not relevant, and that with two completely divergent stories and no witnesses to the arrest, it was completely legitimate for the judge to rely on witness credibility, and therefore the word of the cop.
The determination of Richards and the Chung family to fight for justice fits into a pattern of broader resistance to growing cop violence and judicial frame ups against working people. For example, after 18 months in jail for a murder he did not commit, 26-year-old Randy Wilson, who is Black, was recently freed by the Ontario Court after the only alleged witness admitted to fabricating her story. Wilson may take legal action against the cops. "I don't want to leave it like this because it'll just end up happening to somebody else," he said.
These cases represent the tip of an iceberg. This reporter found out about the Richard's case months before it hit the media because one of Angela Chung's relatives is a co-worker at an auto parts plant. Many workers there who are Black have had similar experiences to that of Richards.
After reading an article on the case in the February 2 Globe and Mail, a number related their own experiences. Most did not want their names used in the Militant, either because they fear retaliation by the cops or because they felt the issues raised were too controversial.
"I would never pull over if a cop told me to unless there were lots of lights and people around," said Donovan Smith, an assembler at the plant for 13 years. "Blacks are scared for their lives when they are stopped. And if you fight the cops, they win. You have to protest, but they win."
"I have been stopped many times. The last time was December 29 driving home from work after a 12-hour shift," said a mechanic who has lived in Canada since he emigrated from Jamaica 30 years ago. "Even before they ask for your car registration they want to know if you really own the car. They assume because you're Black that it's stolen."
"Cops always go after Sri Lankans and other Black people," said another worker. "I know from my own experience."
"It's not the individual cop. It's the system," a worker born in Eritria said. "They are trained to see all Blacks as criminals."
Some co-workers who are white had sharply different views. "You can't judge all cops on the basis of the action of one or two police," argued another assembler. "There are racist cops, but to label all cops as racist is like being racist against the cops."
The African-Canadian Legal Clinic has called for support for Richards. The clinic can be reached at (416) 214-4747.
John Staley is a member of International Association of Machinists Local 2113.