How bad transit made me a bigot
Re Rage And Racism On The TTC, by Alok Mukherjee (NOW, July 21-27). I, too, have been riding the TTC all my life.
As a kid I would take the bus from Keele north of Wilson to Harbord to pick up the streetcar to my dad’s business at Broadview and Eastern.
I would travel alone, and I knew more about how to act on transit than some adults today. And it has made me a bigot.
I am tired of the ridiculous rule change that allows dogs on the TTC. Now we don’t just have vomit on the Queen car, but dog feces.
I am also tired of streetcar passengers waiting to exit till the last moment at the station and then pushing through incoming passengers.
I am tired of people on their cellphones shouting at the top of their lungs. Or those who get on the car and don’t have their fare ready.
I am tired of everyone getting on the already packed first car when they can see an emptier one just behind.
And mostly I am tired of the fact that some of these behaviours can be attributed to different ethnic groups.
Adam Berel Wetstein, Toronto
Elevators hidden on the TTC
Re Women’s Safety Finally On TTC’s Agenda (NOW, July 21-27), by Hillary Di Menna. As balanced as the article is, the author quotes Terri-Lynn Langdon as wanting ads removed from the bus shelters.
Excellent idea – but did her organization bring that to the attention of council when City Hall was drooling over the prospect of Astral Media paying for this particular transit infrastructure?
As to safety in general and for women and other at-risk groups specifically: next time you’re riding the Better Way underground, take a look at the number of elevators that are not immediately visible in high-volume areas.
Ian Byers, Toronto
What occurs to women alone on TTC
As a small woman who often travels alone on the TTC, some of the points Hillary Di Menna mentions in her article have (unfortunately) also occurred to me. Like “I could have pressed the yellow emergency strip, but then I’d be trapped with my harasser and a train full of angry passengers.”
Looking forward to reading more from Di Menna.
A.R., From nowtoronto.com
Of Pride, crime and punishment
Re Pride’s Prison Problem (NOW, July 21-27). Prisons in Canada need to be abolished. Imprisonment is morally reprehensible in an enlightened, free society.
We have all been taught at an early age that two wrongs don’t make a right.
Yes, criminals have done wrong.
Doing wrong to them in return by putting them in cages doesn’t make a right. Crime is itself mainly a consequence of the structure of our society.
What we need is a community change approach. It is only in a caring community that redemption of the individual can take place. It is the dominant culture that is more in need of correction than the prisoner.
Donald Vermithrax, Hamilton
GNR reveals childhood truths
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Carla Gillis for Guns And Roses Lessons In The Art Of Aging (NOW, July 21-27). Reading the article was an immense pleasure.
Guns N’ Roses are my favourite band. What a treat it was reading about Gillis’s childhood memories, echoing my own at age 10.
Dory Smith, Toronto
Statistics don’t back Black Lives claims
Re Black Lives Matter To Receive Race Relations Award From The City, by Paul Nguyen (NOW, July 13).
Statistics in one Harvard study of Houston indicate that even though the African-American population is more likely to have interactions with police, Blacks are 23.8 per cent less likely [than whites] to be shot and killed by police. This makes me wonder what the agenda of the Black Lives Matter movement really is. Is this movement part of a dysfunctional generation that wants instant recognition?
The Black Lives Matter movement is statistically not justified.
Cynthia Souza, From nowtoronto.com
BLM lucky they weren’t arrested
Re Be Careful, Toronto, Your Racism Is Showing (NOW, July 14-20).
So Toronto’s “racism is showing” because people are pissed off that a bunch of race warriors hijacked the Pride parade and subjected the LGBTQ community to an insulting lecture on “privilege” and “white supremacy” while demanding the community’s progress with police be rolled back and then capping it all off with smoke bombs?
Get the fuck outta here.
BLM are lucky they weren’t dragged away in cuffs as they should have been.
Jan Burton, Toronto
Seeing the light on policing issues
Re Tory’s All Wet On Pride And Police, by Alok Mukherjee (NOW, July 14-20). Mukherjee has experienced a conversion on policing issues, and that is good.
For the 10 years he chaired the Toronto Police Services Board, he opposed change about how the police dealt with the community – with Blacks, with those in mental crisis, with strip-searching, with police expenditures.
But now that he’s safely free from a place where he could make changes, he apparently has seen the light and thinks the police should change. As they say about Michael Coren and his decision that opposing the LGBT community was stupid, change is better late than never.
John Sewell, Toronto
