Wed Sep 19, 2012
Local News

Block watch in effect

“Take back the block” became more than a slogan for a handful of strangers last Tuesday evening. When a man was spotted choking a woman on Bloor Street just after 7 p.m., several passersby swiftly intervened. Among the first was Michelle den Hollander [full disclosure: den Hollander is a friend of the author], pulling the man off.

She was swiftly joined by Chris Ball—who just happened to be postering nearby for last Saturday’s Take Back the Block party, an event organized in response to the neighbourhood’s recent spate of sexual assaults.

When den Hollander and Ball followed the man down the street to ensure he didn’t attack others, he punched Ball in the head. Den Hollander called out for help, but only one other person stepped in, tackling the man to the ground with Ball, and holding him there until police arrived. Most others just stared.

The victim and her attacker appeared to be acquaintances, though neither could be reached for comment.

“It’s important to step in right away and not wait for someone else to do it,” said den Hollander. Ball emphasized the importance of community building in violence prevention—a key goal of last Saturday’s take-back-the-night parties. “If someone knows you,” he said, “they’re going to be looking out for you.”

TAGS

post a comment

mls

The theory is that “if someone knows you, they’re going to be looking out for you”.

The practice may be different, depending on what that person’s position in the social food chain is.

Are you the sex worker, that the neighbors speculate about, while the community mobilizes to “take back our streets” ? Are you the homeless guy with an alcohol problem who lives in the local parkette ? Are you the recent immigrant who doesn’t speak the language ? Are you the mentally ill person in the crummy rooming house that home owning neighbors have mobilized together to shut down, because of their concern over their property values ? Are you the woman in an abusive relationship, but your partner is perceived to be a great guy ?

Then some of those people who know you, in your community, may be much less willing to speak up/stand up for you, in similar circumstances.

Good for the people who stepped in to try to do something, about an attack taking place right in front of their eyes, between strangers(to the people who intervened), while others stared and did nothing. There is a mighty intersection of privilege, race, class, otherness that colors all social interaction, including this one. Encouraging a community to act better than it historically has is more easily said than done, however.
4 1

Report

6:16 pm on September 19, 2012

Reply

bot

this comment is good and you should feel good
2 0

Report

1:25 pm on September 20, 2012

ILLUSTRATION: Matthew Billington/The Grid

1:30

Places
Wed May 15, 2013

Mall of justice

Inside the city’s second-busiest courthouse, where the days are short, lunch is long, and...

0 COMMENTS

2:15

Sports
Wed Feb 27, 2013

For the birds

Despite gentrification and generation gaps, the Giant Runt Club’s annual show-pigeon competition...

1 COMMENT

3:00

Local News
Wed Feb 20, 2013

Inside stories

For incarcerated members of the LGBTTQ community, Toronto’s Prisoner Correspondence Program...

0 COMMENTS

Reset your password

Reset your password

Join The Grid

City_local news

Politics

Politics

Dating Diaries

Dating Diaries

WTF

City News

Food

City News

Related Articles

No worries! We'll send you an e-mail containing instructions for how you can recover your password.
Email:

Username:
Password:

	_JOIN THE GRID

Sign in to The Grid

Reset your password

Reset your password

Join The Grid

City_local news

Related Articles