TW: Anti-Black racism, police brutality, violence
I just came off watching most of the
3-4-hour verdict in the Theriault trial, popularly known in the press as the Dafonte Miller trial despite Dafonte being the victim in the case. Dafonte was the teenager blinded in one eye by a vicious assault by Michael Theriault and his brother, Christian Theriault. Like the Forcillo trial, where a white cop was convicted of attempted murder for shooting a young man who died as a result of being hit by a hail of bullets, this was a bizarre exercise in legal weaselry, wherein despite overwhelming amounts of evidence, Christian was acquitted completely while Michael was convicted only of the lesser offence of assault.
The whole way through, the judge kept talking about how yes, they probably had no intention of arresting him, their aim was probably vigilante justice, they probably had no cause to fear for their lives, or to beat him as badly as they did. They probably lied to investigators after the fact and this was probably deliberate. And so forth. But those probablies don't add up to a pattern of oh, definitely, so only the most blatantly obvious charge could stand.
I'm not a legal expert. I have seen trials before, and I can't imagine that that all those convoluted maybes would be bestowed upon a defendant who wasn't a cop or wasn't white. Essentially the judge gave free rein to cops to act as vigilantes and above the law, even while admitting that this is what they did. That was not a benefit of the doubt extended to the victim in this case.
Dafonte isn't a perfect victim or witness, but it doesn't matter. In this country we don't typically accept the punishment of blinding for the act of petty thievery (a handful of pocket change and some sunglasses left in an unlocked car—and who leaves their car unlocked at 2 am???). There are clear rules of arrest and the judge admitted that they were violated, again concluding that it was not Michael Theriault's intention to arrest him for a crime that is incredibly minor. This was a teenaged kid who did a dumb, irresponsible thing that a lot of kids do, and for this was brutally assaulted by two adult men, at least one of whom was drunk, with a weapon, and at least one of whom was trained, in theory, to follow certain procedures, which he did not follow.
I didn't expect justice. This is a white court, enforcing laws and norms created by rich white people for the benefit of other rich white people, and Dafonte is a young black man. I actually didn't expect any conviction by about halfway through and you could tell on the barbarians' faces that they weren't expecting it either. Were it not for the dogged determination of Desmond Cole and other activists, they'd have handily gotten away with everything. But this is not enough. The system itself is guilty.
I see that kid and I think about my students. Most of us are irresponsible at 19. But some of us are afforded the opportunity to make mistakes and eventually grow out of them, and others prevented from even freely navigating the world even if they do nothing wrong at all.
I don't want to go into a whole grief-rage thing, because whatever I'm feeling now is nothing compared to the constant terror and anger and sadness that BIPOC experience. I can't even begin to imagine. My love and solidarity to them, and to this poor kid who has to live with the physical and psychological trauma of white supremacy for the rest of his life.
But as a Toronto taxpayer who has been funding Michael Theriault's three-year paid vacation—fucking
enough. Defund the police. Disarm and disband the police. And then take a good hard look at the legal system that excuses and bolsters their excesses.
If you want to help out Dafonte with his ongoing medical costs not covered by OHIP,
here's the official fundraiser.
