Surrey, British Columbia – The Sher Vancouver Board of Directors has released this official statement to show our support for black people and other at-risk and vulnerable groups, including LGBTQ+ people, who are victims of police racism and brutality from bad cops.
The murder of George Floyd by a Caucasian police officer was a catalyst and trigger for riots and protests across the USA and the world. Racism and brutality against black people, however, in the USA has been a historical and chronic problem. White supremacy is still with us. Violence against black people and other at-risk and vulnerable groups is unacceptable. Black people have the right to personal safety and security.
We cannot remain silent. We must do what we can to support our black friends and family.
What is Sher Vancouver doing?
- Sher Vancouver Founder Alex Sangha has made a personal donation to the Vancouver Chapter of Black Lives Matter so that they can continue their critical work and Alex has encouraged all Sher Vancouver members to donate what they can afford.
- Sher Vancouver shared the invitation, news, and updates about the protest at the Vancouver Art Gallery on Sunday, May 31 to the 3000+ Sher Vancouver social media followers.
- Sher Vancouver has been sharing regular updates about what is happening in the USA from a variety of news sources across all our social media platforms.
Sher Vancouver is calling for reforms with local policing?
TESTING – Sher Vancouver is calling for better testing at the recruitment level to screen out police officers who have an aptitude to be racist, sexist, homophobic, or transphobic. The fact that the RCMP had to settle a multi-million dollar sexual harassment lawsuit from female police officers is further evidence that the current recruitment system is failing miserably.
EDUCATION – Sher Vancouver is calling for cultural diversity training for all police officers. This includes how to work more effectively with Indigenous, Black, People of Colour, and LGBTQ+ people. The Surrey RCMP has made some strides in this area.
PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY AND CONFIDENCE – Sher Vancouver is calling for public complaints against the police to not to be investigated by the police. Truly independent, civilian oversight is necessary. We all witnessed how effective the Trump impeachment hearings were when Republicans investigated Republicans.
RECRUITMENT – Sher Vancouver is calling for “a significant increase” of women, black people and people of colour, and Indigenous people in leadership positions with the police at the highest levels. The police force should be representative of the local population.
