I came across an interesting article tonight that reminded me of the poem we read not too long ago called "I am graffiti" by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson. The article talks about systemic racism that is happening in St. John's Newfoundland to an Indigenous community. One of the police chief's, Pat Roche, spoke about how Indigenous people were not facing any systemic racism, but Indigenous people disagreed. Indigenous people believe that there is racism in the police force because of the amount of Indigenous women and girls that have gone missing or have died due to a lack of police action. The reason I thought the news article related to Simpson's poem is because people often brush issues like this under the rug or they give a fake apology in an attempt to "ignore" or "fix" the problem.

In Simpson's poem, she talks about how Justin Trudeau and the government apologized and expected everyone to move on as if nothing was happened to Indigenous people. I felt that news article was articulating the same idea. When the police chief, Roche, was asked to respond to the systemic racism, he said there was none and never replied or elaborated further when Indigenous people contacted him to change his position and reconsider what he said. Roche is attempting to ignore a problem and pretend it never happened, but it will always exist as long as the police force continues to do nothing. Very similar to Trudeau and his liberal government apologizing and trying to "move on" from what has happened in the past and telling Indigenous people to get over all the hurt and trauma they have faced throughout history. It is definitely not easy and will never full be erased, like graffiti. - Isabella Walter

References
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/rnc-chiefs-refusal-to-acknowledge-systemic-racism-very-troubling-says-indigenous-group/ar-AA12RK7x