I have two items today which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as "unceasing," "grudging," and "vengeful destruction."
Three weeks ago I assured everyone I was not trying to pick on Oregon. Last week I was not trying to pick on Kansas City, MO. Today I am not trying to pick on Canada. Things happen everywhere. Sometimes the Furies are extra needed if an incident happens where someone we care about lives. Besides, Montreal is a long way from BC.
Also, this incident ended better than it would have in the United States. Leon Shand is still alive. Alive with $800.00 
worth of tickets, but alive. And let's be clear, he did cross McGill College Avenue on a red light a little over a week ago. In his wheelchair.
Witness Katharine-Marie Albisi decided to film the incident and post it on Facebook, She never did catch Leon's name, but his sister, Patricia Henry, saw the video and found it unsettling. "It makes me feel so sick to see how they treat my brother," she said. "Maybe if he wasn't in a wheelchair, who's to tell you what they would have done to him?" She found the language the officer used ("I'm going to give you a f-king ticket. You asked for it.") inappropriate.
Ummm – Patricia – I hate to be the one to break it to you, but the wheelchair didn't give him any special consideration. More likely it aggravated the offense. He's still alive because he's in Canada. In the United States …
Some years ago Laura Gottesdiener compiled "5 Times Police Killed People with Mental Disabilities." Recently I saw a similar title but with the number 10 inspead of 5 – unfortunately, I haven't been able to find it. Leon's disability, of course, is physical – or it was – he was so shaken up by the encounter that he later that day fell out of the wheelchair and sustained a concussion. I hope he is improving; I don't have an update. Tisiphone, Megaera, could you work on convincing the Montreal police that they don't have to behave as though they were American?
Here in the States – well, here where I am, you may be elsewhere – we have had a week which included the death by police shooting in El Cajon, CA, of Alfred Olango, who was also disabled, and a week of more protests in Charlotte, NC, stemming from the death by police shooting there of Keith Lamont Scott, who was also disabled. (Do I need to say that both were also black?)
There was one bittersweet moment, bitter because the grief is almost unbearable, but a little sweet because of the courage shown by a nine-year-old girl who spoke to the Charlotte City Council, and because that courage at least gives us a little hope for the future.
Zianna Oliphant's speech was taped, and has been viewed many times, including maybe by you. But it bears viewing multiple times.
One part of her speech:
We are black people, and we shouldn’t have to feel like this. We shouldn’t have to protest because y’all are treating us wrong. We do this because we need to, and have rights.
I’ve been born and raised in Charlotte, and I never felt this way until now. And I can’t stand how we are treated. It is a shame that our fathers and mothers are killed and we can’t even see them anymore. It’s a shame that we have to go to the graveyard and bury them. And we have tears and we shouldn’t have tears. We need our fathers and mothers to be by our side.
Alecto, I'm asking you, because this, it appears, never stops. But it has to stop. Please put on your Eumenides hat and go to this child and hug her and comfort her.
And don't stop.
The Furies and I will be back.
Cross posted to Care2 at http://www.care2.com/news/member/101612212/4013531
