Feeling marginalized and targeted, a part of the population reaches its breaking point and takes to the streets in protest.<\/p>\n
It sounds like something that could have taken place today, but Thursday, May 4 marks 25 years since the Yonge Street Riot took place in downtown Toronto.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith anti-black police violence and Black Lives Matter in the news 25 years later, now was the time to revisit the events of May 4, 1992 along with its social and historical context, political aftermath and relevance for contemporary struggles against anti-black racism,\u201d says Simon Black, Assistant Professor in the Centre for Labour Studies at Brock University.<\/p>\n
The Yonge Street Riot started as a rally organized by the Black Action Defense Committee with about 1,000 people protesting against the Rodney King verdict and the shooting death of a 22-year-old black man by Toronto police a few days earlier.<\/p>\n
They marched to City Hall, with a handful of protestors causing damage, and then the group grew as it marched along Yonge Street, where things escalated.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany, including police and politicians, called it a riot. Others, myself included, think of it more as a rebellion, an uprising,\u201d Black says.<\/p>\n
After writing an article about the event, Black was encouraged to produce a documentary to mark the 25th anniversary.<\/p>\n
The film, It Takes A Riot: Race, Rebellion, Reform, <\/em>will be released in a screening Thursday, May 4 at 6:30 p.m. at Ryerson University. The screening will take place in room LIB 72. It\u2019s free and open to the public, but space is limited.<\/p>\n