Hey folks, it's me, Michael Bach,
and this is Monday Morning Musings.
Happy Monday,
I hope this finds you well, safe and healthy.
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Please do remember to subscribe by clicking on the link which is somewhere,
to find out whenever I post a video,
which is consistently on Mondays,
except when it's not,
what are you gonna do?
I have a juicy one for you this week.
This is from some news articles,
from the past couple weeks,
I'm going to paste a number of articles down below,
but it is one that causes a bit of a quandary.
So, let's dig into it, here's the "sitch".
The Alberta Justice Minister, Kaycee Madu,
who is the first Black Justice Minister in Canada,
and what appears to be one of only four ministers of colour,
out of a total of 20 in the Alberta government.
I say appears to be, because I don't know the ethnic make up of all the ministers,
and I'm making that statement based on photographs, which is not always accurate.
Minister Madu was stopped by Edmonton police and given a ticket for distracted driving.
The Edmonton police claim that he was driving while on his cell phone in a school zone.
Minister Madu claims that his cell phone was in his pocket.
The Minister called the Chief of police.
Subsequently, the Minister is no longer the Minister,
because he's been asked to quote on quote, step back for a period.
Whatever that means.
He may be back, he may not.
We will never know what actually happened, because the Minister paid the ticket,
which is tantamount to an admission of guilt,
but he likely paid it because of the political impact of the situation.
Now here's where it gets interesting.
The Minister said in a statement that he called the Chief,
not to ask for the ticket to be scrapped,
but because he was inquiring whether or not he was being targeted by police.
You see there is an open investigation into the Lethbridge Police Service,
related to allegedly, illegally monitoring the Minister of the environment under the previous NDP government.
That case is ongoing, but the Minister happens to be a women.
I don't know, her ethnic heritage.
This leads to the quandary,
is this a simple case of a person being stopped, because they were driving while on their cell phone,
or is it a case of driving,
while Black.
Every Black person in North America, as well as other places,
knows that there is an increased risk of being stopped by police,
while driving largely because of the bias held by the officer,
and before you think I'm making this up,
the research bears it out.
A study from NYU in the U.S. found that Black drivers were 20 per cent more likely to be stopped, than white drivers.
It also found that, once stopped,
Black drivers were searched about one and a half, to two times more often than white drivers.
While they were less likely to be carrying drugs, guns and other illegal items,
compared to white drivers.
The study goes on with some other interesting findings,
and while we don't have a similar study in Canada,
we can look the 2018 research from the Ontario Human Rights Commission,
which found that Black people are 20 times more likely to be killed by Toronto police,
compared to white suspects.
Bias against Black people exists.
The reality is that Minister Madu has experienced discrimination in his life.
I don't know the man,
but I'd be,
I'd bet a pretty penny that that is the case.
Add to that, the alleged unlawful investigation into a former Minister,
and it creates a situation of concern.
So when he was stopped by police,
regardless of whether or not he was on his phone,
he may have felt like he was being targeted.
Did he call the Chief of police to influence the situation,
I don't know.
The Chief says he didn't, he says he didn't.
Did he use his privilege as a Minister to call the Chief of police to find out if he was being targeted?
Absolutely,
but why shouldn't he?
People use their privilege all the time to get what they want,
in a former job,
my CEO would tell me about the parents of students who would call him to try to get him to hire their kids,
and not just CEO's and politicians, any parent.
I this case, I think the action justifies the reaction.
In this case,
The Minister was trying to find out,
if in fact that he is Black,
influenced the stop,
and it may have.
It is unrealistic to think that the Edmonton police service doesn't have officers that have bias against Black people.
In fact, it's improbable.
The EPS has nearly 1800 sworn officers,
bias against Black people is pretty much guaranteed,
but the reality is that most Black people don't have the ability to pick up the phone,
and get through to the Chief of police where they live,
and they likely wouldn't try,
because it might make the situation worse.
Every Black parent has had 'the talk' with their kids,
and if you don't believe me, go ask your Black friends and colleagues who have kids.
The talk is about parents preparing their children for a world that is biased against them,
and therefore more dangerous,
simply because of the colour of their skin.
In this specific case, I'm on the side of the Minister.
He shouldn't have been forced to step down,
the premier should have been willing to stick his neck out,
and to support his Minister, who may be facing racial prejudice.
That's what real leadership looks like.
Check out the articles below to learn more about this case,
and I would love you to share your thoughts in the comments.
That's it for me,
thanks so much for stopping by and watching,
I really appreciate it.
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Last but not least,
I have re-launched my new series,
my re-launched my new series, that does not make sense,
that's an oxymoron.
I have re-launched my series "Live at Five",
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That's it.
I think I got through all of it.
Thanks so much for watching, have a fantastic week,
and I'll see you next week for another episode of Monday Morning Musings,
Bye.