Pubdate: Thu, 16 Feb 2006
Source: Mirror (CN QU)
Copyright: 2006 Communications Gratte-Ciel Ltee
Contact:  http://www.montrealmirror.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/267
Author: Kristian Gravenor

THE POOR GET POORER

The nastiest Montrealer of this century was likely Abdus Shahid A. De 
Coteau. He would savagely beat those whom he disfavoured. He led a 
hugely destructive prison riot and casually killed other young men.

De Coteau was murdered at age 22, days prior to Halloween 2003, at a 
bar on St-Jacques W. According to legend, he menacingly stuck his gun 
into another man's mouth. The guy went home, rinsed his mouth, 
fetched his gun, returned and shot De Coteau dead.

De Coteau had misdirected initiative, energy and ambition. He sought 
to take over a rival gang, but his career strategy relied on 
violence. It was unsustainable.

He once crossed a young man in a metro station whom he concluded was 
a drug-dealing rival. "You selling weed?" he asked. The guy replied 
incredulously, "Do I look like I'm selling weed?" De Coteau shot him 
dead. In another episode, a man was called downstairs in front of his 
home in Little Burgundy. He descended and was shot dead. Police say 
De Coteau committed that murder as well.

A few days after De Coteau was finally killed, his associate was 
gunned down in a motel down the street. The killers were caught and 
it was thought to be an end to the murderous nonsense.

Instead, gang murders continue. Most recently, a young man from 
Little Burgundy was shot downtown. He lies clinging to life in a 
hospital bed with cops guarding his door. Drugs and gangs are again blamed.

It's incomprehensible to me how a child will joyously take his first 
steps into his parents' outstretched arms and a few years later 
become a social outsider and total misfit.

Daniel Weinstock, an ethics researcher at the U of M, has been trying 
to track the ongoing plight of the city's underclass. He blames their 
ongoing misery on social segregation. The vicious rift between the 
rich and the poor is increasing, particularly in schools.

"I really believe in the power of schools as an engine of social 
division that encourages the transmission, from generation to 
generation, of class divisions. If you are a poor person going to a 
crappy school surrounded by a bad social milieu, the subliminal 
message is clear," says Weinstock.

The province encourages the middle class to put their kids into 
private school; this has made public schools an increasingly 
homogenous atmosphere of deprivation. "The worst possible way for a 
society to overcome class divisions is to send poor people to school 
with very little social mixing for 11 years. That's not a recipe for 
transcending class division," he says.

Parents who pull their kids out of the public system seem oblivious. 
"The same people who'd never consider voting for a party that would 
have a two-track health system as part of their platform send their 
kids to private school with alacrity. And schools probably have a 
greater impact on society than hospitals. When you point out the 
disconnect, parents respond as if you hit them over the head with a 
brick. They hadn't realized it, or they plead that it's not the 
case," says Weinstock.

Weinstock feels that both the wealthy and the poor benefit from 
exposure to each other's worlds. For the poor, having a few wealthy 
acquaintances can determine later success.

But few try to bridge the gulf. For example, the City of Westmount 
recently forbade less affluent non-Westmounters from borrowing from 
the local library without a membership fee. There wasn't a peep of protest.

The difference between a creating a gangster and a professional can 
be as small as having someone help you fill out university application forms.

"Following the example of your parents is the path of least 
resistance," he says. "The path of most resistance is to do something 
different. And for the poor, that requires jumping a lot of hurdles 
and being able to apply all pieces of institutional knowledge that 
isn't just given."

The real two solitudes in Quebec are the rich and the poor. They're 
becoming increasingly isolated. The more they drift apart, the more 
lives will be tragically wasted.