Brother Vukoni,
I am not on Mulindwa's mailing list; and I have just
seen your reply to his objection to my placing the deceased Harrison Yiga, in
Jane & Finch.
For your clarity, Jane & Finch is the 'black
neighbourhood' of Toronto; not too old, but originally habited by our people
from Jamaica who in the early 60's were shipped into Canada, like
Philippinos today, to act as maids and babysitters for the white middle class
here. But Jane & Finch has since become a vibrant multi-racial
part of Toronto.
The children of these nannies, many years later when they
joined their mothers here became associated with 'crime and
violence'.
In the minds of many, including our black high-fliers, Jane
& Finch still has the label of a violent place, i.e. racist code for
'a place for blacks'.
The fact is that Jane & Finch is neighbor to York
University, the fastest expanding University in Canada that boasts of, the
most prestigious Law School in the country, a gem of a Science Library, an
impressive aerospace engineering department, a marvelous computer science
Department etc....
Right in the centre of Jane & Finch Ugandan, Ghanaian
etc... medical doctors have set up state of the art medical facilities.
Plans are under-way to link the whole area to the grid of
the Metropolitan Rapid Transit. The place is developing in leaps and
bounds.
Opting for other enclaves - Jewish, Greeks, Italians,
Portuguese etc... maybe Mulindwa is too high to think of living
in a neighborhood like Jane & Finch. But many of us have no
qualms about living with our own.
Now the deceased, Harrison Yiga was reported to have died in
North York, a general area that also includes Jane & Finch.
Now I realize that he actually died in Don Mills, an area
that is adjacent to Jane & Finch, and was the catchment place for most
Somalis when they first arrived here in waves.
As far as I am concerned it matters less whether one dies
among Jamaicans and Ghanaians in Jane & Finch , in Don Mills
among Somalis, in Bathurst & Lawrence among Jews, in Keel among
Ukrainians, in a Greek, a Chinese or whatever neighborhood.
It is so unfair, instead of expressing our condolences to
the relatives and friends of the deceased, to instead use such a sad occasion
for grandstanding.
" I'm
thinking of a God very different from the God of the Christian and the
God of Islam, because both are depicted as omnipotent Oriental despots, cosmic
Saddam Husseins." Philosopher Antony Flew 1922
- .
