Culture of Violence

A little over 2 weeks ago, 15 year-old teenager, Jordan Manners was shot to death inside his school. It was an extremely tragic event, but just the latest chapter to the ever- increasing black-on-black violence that seems to be permeating the city of Toronto. As usual the political opportunists immediately started coming out of the woodwork. "Ban handguns!" chanted Toronto Mayor, David Miller and Ontario Premier, Dalton McGuinty.

Unfortunately this has not worked in countries such as the UK and Australia that have tried it, as a majority of criminals obtain their weapons illegally anyway. It would only serve to deprive the law-abiding citizens of a means of protecting themselves from these thugs.

In several Toronto communities, such as "Jane and Finch" and "Rexdale", its inhabitants have only unwittingly contributed to this problem by refusing to speak to the police. As was witnessed last week, many of them screamed with indignation when the police took very drastic actions against the gangs plaguing their communities in a series of well-coordinated police raids. What the police found was that there ware several females and minors who assisted these gangs by storing its weapons, running drugs for them and acting as lookouts to thwart any police activity. Yet whenever there is a shooting, these same people accuse the police of not doing enough to stem the tide of violence affecting them.

It is time for these communities to make a decision. They need to stop offering protection to these criminals and deprive them of a safe haven. It is only then that will see a break in the culture of violence affecting these communities.