My local grocery store Chung Hing at Kennedy Road and Finch Avenue in Scarborough/Toronto, Canada was held up by gunpoint yesterday, Saturday February 20, 2011 at around 16:10 in the afternoon. Five black guys, faces hidden behind bandanas and guns drawn, marched into the store and demanded cash. The cash registers were locked. While these thieves would rather steal for a living, they also risk the lives of those that shop and work at this store. For me, my wife and two kids had just checked out. They were petrified. A single police car with one officer arrived just as my wife left the store. An hour later a neighbour reported that there were 12 police cars at the store, now long closed for the day.
Here in Canada, your average citizen cannot buy a gun. Guns are restricted to police and gun club members, who need to be registered. Guns are either stolen from gun collectors, or are smuggled in from the US in exchange for drugs. Gangs use guns to terrorize the public or other competing gangs.
Chung Hing is our local Chinese grocer. They have 6 cashiers. On a typical Sunday afternoon they would have three open. While it would not be crowded, it would be busy. In the past there has been trouble with black thieves armed with guns in the same plaza. Surprising this is not, but brazen it was. Chung Hing is not a high value target. They do have close circuit surveillance cameras that surround the store as well as show inside the store.
No one was hurt, so there will be no mention about this in the news. Still, many, including my family, are traumatized. Such brazen acts to hurt others breed ill will against the local black community, and with good reason. We continue to be wary and we have good reason. These gangs need to be stopped and thrown into jail.
Wow… That’s horrible. :(
Its upsetting to me that it took me two years later to come across this post. However, with such tone and conviction in your post I felt it immensely neccesary to respond even if it was years later. I can’t believe that in your post you made it important to mention that there is good reason to breed I’ll will against the local “black” community. First of all, I know this community very well and have seen for myself the “Chinese” aka “yellow” since you prefer colors have greatly affected the health of me and my family. Every single week I HAVE encountered a near fatal car crash. And that’s as a pedestrian. While crossing the street or even headed to the damn park I have had cars pull up past pedestrian cross lines and nearly crashed into or come to a screeching halt at the nose of my stroller with child inside. This area is also known to be one of the worst areas in terms of horrible drivers and serious car accidents. I have relatives from that vow to never come to this area because of the reckless, insensitive , destructive and absolutely pathetic driving capabilities of the Chinese people in this community. Here’s the kicker 100% of all my experiences and those of friends have all been the Chinese. I’m not condoning what these individuals did. Not at all but what I am saying is that next time you want to blame a race for their actions you should look at how stupid it really sounds before publicly or privately noting it. Because you will be put in your place. Hmm I wonder how a chinese individual would feel if I said we got SARS from them and I notably blame and feel ill will towards this “yellow community” for the disease they brought to me and my family members. I am not from the African american heritage nor do I need to be to say/ stand against what true discrimination. Its people like you and your posts that allow target groups to feel injustice. So ask yourself this, who’s fault was it really that your family was traumitized? And how you may have treated people differently from one race and for how long that may have lead to a chain reaction of such events? If your going to point a finger, you should consider the three pointing back at you when your hand signals a finger in anothers direction. So thank you for proving my point. That the newcomers to this community are unwelcoming to those that have built this country from centuries. How ironic. Don’t look at me as if I don’t belong in this community when the Chinese community is not from this country either. None of us are which is why we are multicultural instead of racial.