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Within North America, especially the United States, police brutality against African-Americans tends to serve as the triggering factor for the outbreak of rebellions. In the case of Toronto’s Yonge Street Uprising on May 4, 1992, Constable Robert Rice’s killing of 22-year-old Raymond Constantine Lawrence ignited violent resistance in the streets. In the history of African-Canadians’ opposition to police violence, the Yonge Street Uprising represents the first time that they used a rebellion as a part of their resistance strategy.
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The Black Action Defense Committee (BADC), Toronto’s major police accountability group at the time, called a protest march to denounce the slaying of Lawrence and demonstrate solidarity with the Los Angeles Rebellion. African-Americans in Los Angeles revolted against the acquittal of four white cops by an all-white jury for the brutal beating of Rodney King, an African-American motorist. Dr. Akua Benjamin, a co-founder of BADC, states: “We link the events (in Los Angeles and Toronto) in terms of the inactivity of the government and powers that be in addressing the fundamental issue of police racism and police violence as they impact particularly on the Black community.”
During the march on the streets of Toronto, the crowd chanted slogans such as “No Justice, No Peace,” “L.A. to T.O. racist cops have got to go,” and “White judge, white jury, white justice, from Toronto to L.A.” Canada has developed a cherished pastime of expressing moral superiority over the United States and, as such, is offended by anyone placing both countries in the same racist grouping. Bob Rae, Ontario premier and leader of the social democratic New Democratic Party confirmed the preceding sentiment: “We have [racist] problems, but this is not Los Angeles; this is not the United States.” The chants in the streets sent a clear message that policing and the justice system are racist in both countries.
The sense of collective power that came with being a part of a demonstration gave many demonstrators the opportunity to pelt the cops with eggs, rocks, bottles, cans and other objects for the years of police brutality against the African community. After a few hours of marching, the protest action formally ended at around 7 p.m. at Toronto’s City Hall. A group of Black youth took over from that point and led several hundred demonstrators onto Yonge Street, Toronto’s major north-south arterial roadway. That action ignited the Yonge Street Uprising with its accompanying attack on property and the cops. The cops were overwhelmed by the rebels in the streets. Later on, the police were heavily criticised for passively standing aside in the presence of this rebellion.
The inaction of the cops speaks to the power of the oppressed to take the fight to the enforcers of capitalism and racism. The protesters exposed the cops’ vulnerabilities and lack of invincibility. Lennox Farrell, a retired educator and co-founder of BADC, describes a significant impact of this youth-led uprising:
“The powers that be were shocked. We had had mass demonstrations before; you know long speeches and so on. And the police would harass you on the way home; give you a parking ticket and that sort of nonsense. But this time, the police had to move their buses, shift out of the way of these youth; youth totally incensed … angry. The event was a political catharsis. A cathartic moment, even for the city, because what happened was a log jam broke; a log jam of denial by the authorities, a logjam of delusion by the political establishment. That rebellion broke that logjam.”
In practical terms, the provincial government was forced into creating a $20 million youth summer employment program, passing an employment equity legislation, establishing a commission that investigated systemic racism in the justice system, funding the formation of the African Canadian Legal Clinic, and developing a number of other initiatives.
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In spite of the significance of the Yonge Street Uprising in demonstrating to the political elite that the violence of economic/labour exploitation, police brutality, huge high school dropout rates, and poor housing will, at times, be met with retaliatory violence-from-below, are there lessons that may be drawn from the rebellion?
First, it should be clear that a commitment to militant confrontation with the state and executing a radical organizing program will not take place without the presence of a critical mass of young people. Protest actions against police violence by BADC were a bit ritualistic and predictable. The injection of youthful energy and fearlessness from the people who are normally the prime target of police violence pushed resistance to a qualitatively different level. Therefore, the active participation of young people, at the strategic and operational levels, in social movement organizations is needed in order to transform the latter into effective fighting-cum-organizing forces.
Second, another lesson that should be drawn from the Yonge Street Uprising is the capacity of militant resistance, under certain conditions, to extract concessions from the ruling-class. According to the late Dudley Laws, a BADC co-founder, “Experience has taught me that sometimes you need action like that to spur the government to do something positive. It reminds me of England. After the riots in Brixton you could see a difference in attitudes, and the building of more social programs.”
[A]nother lesson that should be drawn from the Yonge Street Uprising is the capacity of militant resistance, under certain conditions, to extract concessions from the ruling-class.
A day after the uprising, Premier Bob Rae made the claim that “I can tell you nothing is going to happen any quicker because somebody throws a brick through a window. That isn't how the country works. That isn't how it's going to happen.”
However, the equity and anti-racist programs that came from his government were the outcome of bricks being thrown through windows and cops experiencing the wrath of the oppressed.
Third, the Yonge Street Uprising exposed the need for revolutionaries and radicals to emphasize organizing the people for long-term social change over mobilizing for momentary protest actions. Most of the youth and other groups who participated in the rebellion simply drifted back into their regular routines, which divorced them from organized political struggles.
If organizing was the focus of militancy in Toronto, many of the protesters would have already been in organizations or drawn into existing organizations and programs as a result of the uprising. An organizing approach to resistance is focused on equipping communities and individuals with the knowledge, skills and attitude for self-organization, establishing ongoing programs around the people’s needs, building strong membership-based organizations for a long-drawn-out struggle, and carrying out mass systematic political education. Organizing puts us in day-to-day contact with members of the working-class, in its diversity.
Lastly, radical organizations should never abandon individuals who are arrested for their participation in rebellions. With respect to the Yonge Street Uprising, BADC and other progressive organizations did not organize legal support for the people who were charged with uprising-related offences. An article published in The Globe and Mail on July 29, 1992, reported that based on the examination of a list with 31 people who were charged with criminal offences, about 50 percent of them were below the age of seventeen.
The movement is likely to discourage youth from being involved in collective political action, if they are abandoned after getting arrested by the cops. Radical organizations must create solidarity programs that provide concrete aid to activists who are arrested or imprisoned as a result of political action.
The activist community in Toronto should annually commemorate the Yonge Street Uprising in order to remind people of the possibilities of collective resistance. Furthermore, the commemoration of the Yonge Street Uprising offers us the opportunity to reflect on the struggle and draw lessons from it in order to improve the way that we organize for liberation.
Ajamu Nangwaya, Ph.D., is an organizer, educator and writer. He is an organizer with the Network for the Elimination of Police Violence.
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