Re Clifton Josephs Bittersweet Look Back At Caribana (NOW, August 3-16).
I first experienced the Caribana parade in 1984 when I was visiting Toronto and attended with my uncle. I moved to Toronto in 1989 and have attended the parade every year since jumping up behind the bands just as I did while I was growing up on a small island in the Caribbean. Of my last 27 years attending the parade, the last three years have been the worst.
What was started in 1967 as a way to present Caribbean culture has turned into a flop for those of us who grew up in the Caribbean.
No longer is Caribana meant to present Caribbean cultural expression. What it has devolved into is a way to pump money into Torontos economy. The true winners are the white-owned corporations who pay taxes to the City.
What we saw on August 5, 2017 was not fit to be called Carnival. It lacked entertainment, imagination, the list goes on. Think, Black people. Think.
John Richards, Toronto
Re Rumbling Revolution, Indigenous Musics Next Wave by Jarrett Martineau (NOW, August 3-16). I was an extra in two great Indigenous music videos. One is Out On A Limb by Janet Panic. The other is The Way It Should Be by Plex and featuring Wab Kinew. I steal money from a baby carriage.
Jeff Pancer, Toronto
Re Canadas Hate-On For Omar Khadr (NOW, August 3-16). I feel that there were some flaws in your article poking holes in Angus Reids poll that showed most Canadians oppose the Omar Khadr settlement
The fact that respondents were members of the online panel and paid for participation isnt a red flag. Im a member, and have frequently been denied access to a survey because my demographic was already sufficiently represented.
Its true that the media should have teased out more revealing facts from the data provided mainly that most respondents knew little about the specifics of the case, and that peoples political leanings affected their opinion.
But Angus Reids findings were not contradicted by their own survey. On the contrary, those findings clearly reveal the genuinely contradictory, emotion-based and, frankly, fact-free response Canadians have to the Khadr case.
Adam Abrams, Vancouver, BC
At last, a media perspective about Omar Khadr and his abominable treatment by our past governments. The truth about this case has been clearly, concisely and accurately laid out for all who know, want to know or care the opposing spin has been and still is just ideological rant.
Nevertheless, it seems, fake news perspectives get the media focus when flogged by polls couched in phrasing to put the simplest and most vacuous spins on a subject.
When do we learn to distinguish valid political leadership from agenda fluff?
Doug Dent, Toronto
Regarding your piece on increased police enforcement of bike lane laws (NOW Online, August 10).
Most people I have talked with think the police can be part of changing the culture of acceptable road use, but only a part. The fact that they are ticketing bike lane violators hasnt stopped me or my friends from using the tactics of shame, or physically holding shut the passenger doors of Uber drivers who seem not to care about dropping off passengers in the middle of protected lanes.
Given that the balance of risk skews heavily to the cyclist in car-bike interactions, its more than appropriate for cyclists to use all available means to make it socially unacceptable for drivers to stop in protected bike lanes.
A police presence here makes it clear the City is interested in enforcing bike lanes as lawful space, getting into the heads of those who otherwise have little sympathy for know-it-all pinkos like me.
Joel Dickau, Toronto
Jeff Potts of the Canadian Positive People Network is correct: HIV is not a crime (NOW, August 3-16). However, it is criminally negligent to expose an individual to a potentially life-threatening condition without their knowledge.
Mitigating factors shouldnt apply to any person knowingly having unprotected sex with HIV.
Toby Glanville, Toronto
