Starlight Tours Revival

Hi Friends
Today I feel compelled to comment on a story that I had hoped was put to rest with the conviction of the police officers responsible for the death of young Neil Stonechild in Saskatoon in the nineteen nineties. The Saskatoon police were picking up young Indigenous men and women and driving them to the outskirts of the town, in the dead of night and in the dead of winter leaving them to find their way back home, or not. Several were found frozen to death, and ultimately judged to be authors of their own misfortunes. While on the way to their "starlight tour" these men and women were abused by these officers by way of sudden starts and stops, leaving the handcuffed prisoner to slam face first into the mesh partition between the front and back seat of the cruiser. This little game was dubbed "screen testing" by the officers.
What could possibly be the crimes that these men and women were accused of that would elicit such a response from the men and women of law enforcement? Mostly public intoxication, but in all cases just being Aboriginal was enough. This was an open secret in the city of Saskatoon, among the police officers, as well as the Aboriginal community.

The officers who, targeted this boy, (Neil Stonechild was after all only 17 yrs. old when he was taken on his "starlight tour" that ended his life) brutalized him, and ultimately murdered him were given eight months in jail for this premeditated murder...Am I alone in seeing this as not much of a deterrent for police to engage in this type of behavior? Are we really surprised that it is happening all over again? Is it wrong to expect to be treated like any other citizen when we are being dealt with by the police?

What are we the people to do if the very institutions set up to deal with crime and the criminal element are them selves criminal in their treatment of our kind? Maybe it is time for us to ride to our own rescue. We are the object of pity from many well meaning groups, and pseudo governmental bodies, but that seems all that is forth coming. Pity is not what I want.
Solutions and dignity should be our ultimate goal. To that end we must all ask ourselves how do we achieve this. What can we as individuals and as communities do to get there?

regards Debra