A disturbing trend is developing whereby people cry foul and attribute any unpleasant experience to racism. Just like the old fairy tale about the boy who cried wolf, others will begin to ignore legitimate claims.
Racism is a difficult subject to broach. In the past I've seen many news articles about someone who claims they were mistreated or not afforded an opportunity they felt they were due because they happened to be a member of a visible minority.
There is no shortage of these stories, so we don't need to be making any up because someone decides they've been slighted.
Recently there was an incident reported in both Global News and the CBC about a Calgary-based blogger named Sunday Omony who boasts a fairly substantial online following.
A Feb. 23 social media post claimed she was "a victim of police harassment," and the "officer hated (her) for no reason." She attributed this alleged incident to the fact she happens to be black.
People are pulled over every day for any number of reasons. What makes her think that she was pulled over simply because she was black and not because she was in violation of one or more traffic laws?
But the plot thickens. Apparently she was. According to the Calgary Police Service (CPS), the dash cam footage provided by the police cruiser told an entirely different story.
Rather than owning up to what footage showed, Ms. Omony made a post claiming she'd met with the Professional Standards Section of the CPS and had an "insightful conversation," which gave her "a different perspective." But she couldn't be bothered to do any due diligence before posting inflammatory and libelous comments to her scores of Internet followers. To my knowledge she has not apologized publically to the officer whose name she'd unfairly tarnished. The post attributes her original one to her own "personal emotional reaction to the incident."
No Sunday, you don't get to play the victim here.
False accusations of any sort can destroy careers and ruin lives. This officer's integrity was questioned but thanks to technology the truth came out. But what happens to Ms. Omony? Nothing. What happens next time an officer pulls her over? Will that be only due to the colour of her skin too? I'm sure she'd like us to think so.
Racism and racial profiling are serious matters that should not be taken lightly.
Like the boy who cried wolf, next time the police and her fan base may not be so quick to believe her words, even if they happen to be true.
Darlana Robertson is a twentysomething writer from Calgary and a former Central Alberta resident.
