James: Dudley Laws stung and inspired a generation _____________ Dudley Laws is easier to deal with today. A warrior on Toronto’s front lines for justice has taken his rest. Easier for white folks to acknowledge. Easier for the police to recognize. Easier for black folk to embrace. Easier for Toronto to understand. Laws lies in a Toronto morgue, his unrelenting voice stilled by disease and death after 76 years of intractable vigilance and action against racism and injustice. “No justice, no peace,” Brother Dudley repeated, until it became a rallying cry. His causes were just; maybe he’s found peace. Laws’ words stung and unsettled so many during Toronto’s most tumultuous times in the late ’70s and 1980s and early 1990s that his name singularly turned quiet conversations into raging debates and accusations and denials about anti-black racism and police brutality. And if his rhetoric didn’t disturb, his very visage did. The black beret. The graying, then white, beard. The straight back along a stiff spine. The uncompromising news clips. The nose-to-nose confrontation outside police headquarters. The young black men at his side, reminiscent of Malcolm X, Black Muslims, Black Panthers . . . quiet fire raging below controlled anger.
Posted on: Thu, 27 Mar 2014 23:52:15 +0000
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