Annamie Paul Archives • Ted Barris

Rodney King asking what seemed the impossible in May 1992.

It goes back 30 years, but I remember this solemn-faced man stepping toward a news camera in May 1992. He was neatly dressed in a jacket and tie. But he looked drawn, upset and extremely nervous. The man chose his words carefully. He looked into the lens and in the most genuine of expressions offered a simple statement and an even simpler question:

“It’s not right. And it’s not going to change anything. Can we all just get along?” he asked.

The man was Rodney King, the African-American construction worker who’d been beaten by four Los Angeles police officers in what they called an arrest for a suspected drunk driving offence in March 1991. (more…)

It is arguably the most difficult issue Canadians have had to face since Confederation. It has divided Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Canada since initial European contact. And it came into sharpest focus this spring when hundreds of unmarked graves of Indigenous children were discovered around several former residential schools.

But when the issue of “Reconciliation with First Nations” was introduced last Thursday night during the Leaders’ Debate – after some introductory remarks from the five leaders, one of them, Justin Trudeau, got this curt instruction from the moderator.

“You have five seconds, Mr. Trudeau,” said Shachi Kurl, the moderator. “Five seconds, sir.”

“We have lots more to do,” Trudeau said. “And we are going to do it.” (more…)