At a rally protesting the police murder of Mathios Arkangelo, I ended up talking to one of Mathios’ relatives after he asked for a copy of the paper. We were discussing this or that political topic when—almost in passing—he told me that his daughter was also killed by the police. In 2021, they gashed her head open and she died in the hospital. She left behind a 9-year old daughter.
For a moment I couldn’t do anything but blink silently. “So this is the second time,” I asked? He nodded calmly, and went on to explain that the cops paid off one of their buddies in the legal system and got the case thrown out. “It all comes down to money,” he said. His family resorted to suing, but the process is still ongoing. He doesn’t have much hope that they will see justice.
If someone told you that not one but two of their family members had been violently killed, you’d assume they went through war, or gang violence, or maybe a freak accident. But no. This is just Edmonton for a working class family from Sudan. There’s only one thing to do with a system that makes this kind of tragedy so normal—rip it apart and don’t look back.
