BLM advocate calls out ‘performative’ allyship after Sean Chu protest
Posted Oct 26, 2021 8:01 pm.
Hundreds of people showed up on Sunday calling for councillor Sean Chu to resign, but this summer, when anti-racism advocates called for the firing of Alex Dunn at the same location for 3 weeks, the crowds were limited.
Taylor McNallie took the microphone on Sunday and called out the selective activism.
WARNING: The following video contains strong language.
https://twitter.com/TaylorMadeYYC/status/1452473899027877889
“For some reason, people are just not showing up for that and it’s frustrating because it is all the same system,” said McNallie.
Allegations of sexual misconduct involving Chu recently came to light – fuelling the outrage.
Meanwhile, in December, Dunn was found guilty of the assault of a Black woman, Dalia Kafi, after a video showed him slamming her down during her arrest.
WATCH: Const. Alex Dunn is seen slamming a woman to the ground
(Warning: this video contains graphic material. Viewer discretion is advised.)
She needed surgery for a broken nose and split lip.
“There’s so many others who have charges, or complaints against them right now, there are all these things and unless we go to the root of the problem these things are going to continue to happen over and over,” said McNallie.
“Sean Chu is just the tip of the iceberg, like this happens more than we’d like to believe,” said LJ Joseph, the vice president of Black Lives Matter YYC.
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Joseph also ran for council in ward 10, ultimately losing to former councillor Andre Chabot – her hope was to be a loud voice in city hall for issues like this one.
“It benefits every single person to look at defunding when they’re out here sexually assaulting, assaulting people, committing fraud on their own time, and still not getting in trouble for it – seems really ridiculous,” said Joseph.
Almost 2,500 people have signed a new petition calling for details of charges, allegations, and complaints of officers to be made public.
In the meantime, McNallie says she hopes to see more support whether or not Sean Chu does get removed from council or resign.
“Once he’s gone and everybody is off the bandwagon, we’ll still be out here doing this work and we hope others join us.”
