Ongoing protests will be held at the Waterloo Regional Police detachment in Kitchener

The first of four "Abolition Friday" protests organized by Black Lives Matter Waterloo Region (BLM WR) was held at Waterloo Regional Police Central Division in Kitchener.

It continues BLM WR's calls to defund the police and move those funds towards community-focused health and safety initiatives instead.

A small group of members and supporters gathered in the evening, out in front of the police station. They were left undisturbed by the Waterloo Regional Police Service (WRPS). The activists spoke about the issues facing the Black community and played music until sundown.

Fanis Juma is a BLM WR organizer using the protests as a opportunity to highlight the issues affecting the local Black community and what can be done about it.

"Around health, around education, around mental health, around housing, around food security, and we do have some Black-led initiatives that address these pieces and they are predominantly and chronically underfunded," she said.

She also noted the growing concern in their community for their youth. According to Juma, this past summer they've learned that the rate of suicide among their youth was on the rise. Something they hope to bring to the public attentions over the coming weeks.

Earlier in July, just the day before the K-W Solidarity March for Black Lives Matter was held, organizers had issued calls to defund the police, with the bare minimum being $29.3 million.

"I think what get oversimplified is that often it's become a question of 'are the police good?' or 'are the police bad?' and 'is this an attack on individuals?' or anything like that. And that is not what the conversation is really about, Juma said.

The example she used was mass institutionalization that psychiatric hospitals used to do, where people with developmental and intellectual disabilities were sent for care, along with others suffering from mental illnesses. The people who worked and ran the hospitals werent necessarily bad people.

But the system itself was violent, and producing violence and suffering among a vulnerable group, she said. So, the people who abolish---what they used to call insane asylums---were actually people who practiced within those institutions and said, 'this is not good enough.'"

With Regional Police, they are too often the default solution that society turns to for dealing with incidents that stem from social issues, like housing and mental health. Many of these issues also intersecting with the Black community as well, leading to an increase in confrontations with police.

"Using police to address harm in our communities or to respond to social crisis or health crisis, is something we absolutely are seeking to abolish, and we know that that is pretty much what the police do, so that is why we are abolitionist in that sense, Juma said.

This is something that even Police Chief Bryan Larkin agrees with, although he disagrees cutting back the police budget in order to fund social initiatives.

Then there are the issues within WRPS and other police services across the country, with many concerns coming from officers themselves speaking out. Meanwhile, the African, Caribbean and Black Network of Waterloo Region (ACB Network) have called out the service for their over-surveillance of Black residents and communities.

BLM WR plan on holding three more of these sit-ins this month, at which point they will reconvene to see whether or not to continue the sit-ins. The group is run by volunteers, many who are parents and/or have jobs. Racialized communities are at a greater risk during the pandemic, due to many being employed in sectors that put them in contact with the public much more often.

For Juma, the physical and mental health of her members and the community was important. Especially now with students about to head back to school, which adds another level of stress for them. Their activism work will be slow at times, but Juma sees it as a marathon, not a sprint.

In the coming weeks, the group plans on putting out some more concrete ways of helping out, through their Facebook page. There is even a recruitment page available on blmwr.ca for additional ways to help out the movement. Donations are always welcomed, with the hope that they raise enough funds to hire a person full-time.

For now, Juma is telling people to continue the conversation; speak with their local representatives; and spread the message.

We decide what practices and institution we want, so we're trying to kind of enable a generation that says, 'hey, if this is not working, what existed before this? or what could exist after this? and can we be active participants?

People can also join their protests every Friday for the rest of September at the WRPS Kitchener detachment located at 134 Frederick Street. They remind you to practice physical distancing and wear a mask.

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First of four Abolition Fridays held by BLM WR - KitchenerToday.com