Josiah Henson – The Real Uncle Tom and His Canadian Connection

Black slavery in the United States remains a smudge on that country’s history, polarizing and almost imploding the nation. After the passing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, Slavery itself may have been officially eradicated, but that in no way meant there was any sense of equality. In fact, many might argue today that the struggle for equality continues.

Runaway Train

During the decades leading up to the bloodiest war ever experienced by America, a movement led by northern blacks, Quakers, various missionaries, and their supporters, developed a comprehensive network of guides and safe houses to assist slaves in escaping their brutal conditions. Known as the Underground Railroad, its storied history dates back to before the Founding Fathers united the colonies, but are most chronicled during its rescue work in the 19^th Century. It was not an actual railroad, nor used trains, but rather gained its moniker due to its use of railroad terminology as code when communicating among its network.

In essence, runaway slaves needed to escape to a haven wherein the state laws that treated slaves as chattel and granted white slave masters impunity in all dealings with their property, had no force. Many runaway slaves resettled in abolitionist northern states, while some made their way into Upper Canada, all with the logistical planning and integrated systems operated by the Underground Railroad.

Things heated up and became more dangerous for the Underground Railroad and its passengers (railroad terminology to describe runaway slaves) when the United States passed the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, allowing bounty hunters to cross state lines to pursue, capture, and return to owners, runaway slaves. That enactment made the Canadas the most preferred destination for runaway slaves, placing them out of harm’s way of their pursuers.

The Underground Railroad became almost entirely responsible for populating Upper and Lower Canada with a black presence in its day. Even now, family trees can trace ancestral roots to those who found their way north of the 49^th parallel to freedom on the Underground Railroad.

A Slave Like All the Others, Yet Unlike Any Other

Josiah Henson was born into slavery in Maryland on June 15, 1789, on a 3700 acre tobacco plantation and lived a typical slave existence just like the 10 million black indentured servants in America who did so before him.

As was the custom of the day, slave families were routinely split up and sold off by their controlling masters. Henson’s family would not escape this reality, but his mother begged slave master Isaac Riley who had just purchased her (by this time it was in the early 1790’s), to keep Josiah, the youngest child, with her. She must have been very convincing because Riley bought Henson from the successful auction bidder to whom Josiah was sold.

Unable to read or write, Josiah’s illiteracy would not stand in the way of his learning. He was a keen observer and listened intently as others spoke, regardless of the subject matter. As his knowledge base increased, so too did Josiah’s gift of oration. He exuded confidence and wisdom beyond his years, often quoting the Bible, which led to him becoming the de facto preacher among his fellow slaves on the Riley plantation.

While fellow slaves looked to Henson as their spiritual leader, Riley began to depend on Josiah with more tasks and duties. He started out carrying buckets of water to the field hands and weeding between the corn rows. As Josiah aged, he would faithfully serve his master by taking care of horses and eventually became another field hand, and then promoted to superintendent and overseer of the field slaves.

Through it all, Henson developed a sphere of influence he would later parlay into becoming Reverend Josiah Henson. For now, he was the go-to person on the plantation, a role in which he both relished and excelled. Riley would learn the value of his purchase of Josiah, as Henson was to become a most reliable slave, hardworking and loyal.

To some extent history looks upon Josiah Henson in an unfavorable light because of this loyalty. There is a documented case when Josiah was entrusted to transport fellow slaves down south from the Riley plantation in Maryland unescorted. There would have been ample opportunity for Henson and his cargo to escape, but true to his word, Josiah delivered the slaves to their intended destination, and returned, again unescorted, to Riley.

As slavery and slave masters go, Riley certainly wasn’t the cruelest to their property and would have been seen as fairly lenient by his contemporaries. With plantation slaves frequently interacting with their neighbors beholden to another master, it is inevitable comparisons were made and conclusions shared.

As William Still would document in his book, The Underground Railroad Records, published in 1872, many escaping slaves using the network recounted that they left families behind just so that one or a handful had a real opportunity for freedom. For they and their families, the sacrifices made and felt were the only hope for the future.

By now a family man, Henson’s loyalty to Riley in this particular instance may have had more to do with not wanting to leave his wife and children behind than any true sense of obligation to his master. Many slaves had no intention of escaping unless the entire family could make the perilous journey together. For these, they were willing to endure continued untold cruelties for the sake of remaining as a family unit. Given that the Hensons escaped together as a family, it would be more apt to conclude that this was the pivotal consideration for Josiah as he marshalled those slaves southward to an unknown future.

In 1824, slave master Riley fell on hard economic times, largely due to a protracted lawsuit with his brother-in-law and was on the verge of ruin. His only remaining assets were his slaves. Throughout his ownership of Josiah, Riley would often confide in him, but the tone this time was desperate, master shedding tears in front of the slave he reluctantly purchased.

With the sheriff about to seize the slaves to satisfy judgements, Riley had Josiah make him a solemn promise to take the 21 slaves to his brother’s farm in Kentucky. That journey would begin in February, 1825. True to his pledge, Josiah delivered himself and 21 slaves to the farm of Amos Riley in Daviess County, Kentucky, in mid-April.

By the spring of 1828, Isaac Riley sent word that he would not be relocating to Kentucky and had his brother Amos sell off all his slaves except Josiah and his family (Josiah, his wife, and two children).

During that year, Josiah’s gifts of oration and leadership were recognized by a Methodist minister who helped secure occasional leave from Amos Riley for Josiah to preach on a circuit, including in Cincinnati, where he could earn money to purchase freedom for he and his family.

By 1829, Josiah earned enough to purchase his freedom but the transaction would be imperiled due to Isaac Riley fraudulently altering the bill of sale, claiming more than a thousand dollars still owing on the transaction. In mid-1829, the Riley brothers conspired to sell Josiah while he was in New Orleans offloading farm crops from Amos’s barge. They were unsuccessful in their attempt, however, the seeds of distrust were sown and Josiah knew he and his family were to be not long together under the present circumstances.

Now back in Kentucky, Josiah devised a plan of escape, doing so with his family via The Underground Railroad in 1830, making his way eventually to Upper Canada.

Thriving North of the 49

Josiah Henson, his wife Charlotte, and his two young children arrived in Upper Canada (now Ontario) on October 28, 1830.

Finding work and shelter the next day from a man called Mr. Hibbard, Josiah’s labor work ethic and productivity would not go unnoticed, finding himself favored by his employer.

One of his Maryland acquaintances arrived in Upper Canada and would proudly tell the entire neighborhood of this preacher, Josiah Henson, something Henson himself did not pursue at this time. Before long though, Josiah found himself at the pulpit preaching the gospel to a congregation of blacks and whites.

He remained with Hibbard for three years, all the while improving his wealth and acquiring pigs, a horse, and a cow, changing jobs to work for Mr. Riseley, only a few miles away. It was here that thoughts of establishing a slave refuge and religious settlement became serious conversation. Josiah was stoked!

Those embryos of salvation would come to fruition with the founding of The Dawn Settlement, near present day Dresden, Ontario, becoming a prominent destination for escaping slaves on the Underground Railroad and offering a fresh start for those who suffered at the hands of entitled brutes.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Of those who read Henson’s first autobiography The Life of Josiah Henson, Formerly a Slave, Now an Inhabitant of Canada, as Narrated by Himself, was Connecticut school teacher, Harriet Beecher Stowe. Already an active abolitionist, Beecher Stowe was so awestruck by what she read that she would base the title character of Uncle Tom almost entirely on the real life Josiah Henson, with the publishing of her novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, or Life Among the Lowly in 1852 (the novel was originally published as a 45 part weekly newspaper serial beginning 1851).

An instant best seller, Uncle Tom’s Cabin catapulted Harriet Beecher Stowe to worldwide fame, and would sell more than 300,000 copies in the United States (despite being banned in much of the South) and over one million copies in Great Britain within its first year of release.  So profound were the sales numbers of Uncle Tom’s Cabin that it became the best-selling novel of the 19^th Century, and the second biggest selling book in that century, outdone only by the Bible.

It has been, and continues to be, argued that Uncle Tom’s Cabin helped propel America into its Civil War and sowed seeds of revolution worldwide. While considerable controversy surrounds such claims, there exists little doubt that the mass appeal that Uncle Tom’s Cabin engendered served to open the eyes of readers to the plight suffered by black slaves in America, and turned the court of public opinion against slavery.

Josiah Henson’s place in history was forever enshrined alongside that of Uncle Tom and Harriet Beecher Stowe.

After the Passing

Josiah Henson died peacefully at the Dawn Settlement on May 05, 1883, having lived to six weeks shy of his 94^th birthday.

By the time of his death, Henson had been influential as a religious leader, a community shepherd, and an early human rights advocate on both sides of the 49^th parallel. Few before or since have risen to the levels of piety and obeisance than that of Josiah Henson.

Canadians and Americans continue to learn more about the contributions of Josiah Henson. In more recent times, the Ontario Heritage Trust has preserved The Dawn Settlement as a tribute and testament to the significance of Henson. What started out as a museum in the 1940’s by a local farmer has evolved into an iconic visitor destination sitting on five of the original 200 acres of The Dawn Settlement.

In 1983, Canada Post issued its first stamp to feature a black man. It was a 32 cent stamp (then the cost to mail a regular letter within Canada) depicting Josiah Henson. See picture below.

In 1999, Josiah Henson was recognized by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada as a National Historic Person.

The original Riley home in Montgomery County, Maryland is now part of the National Park Service’s National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom program. While the Riley home was never Josiah Henson’s living accommodations during his younger years, the site is being preserved and studied precisely because of its formidable and familial connection to Henson.

Links:

Fugitive Slave Act

The Life of Josiah Henson Autobiography 1849

Truth Stranger Than Fiction 1858

Uncle Tom's Story 1876

Ontario Heritage Trust Uncle Tom's Cabin Historic Site

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Thank You:

A special Thank You to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for providing online access to its vast collection of archives, including those referencing Josiah Henson’s written works used in our research for this article.

The Face of Extreme Islam

According to its just released Intelligence Report, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) says there has been a 42% increase in the number of anti-Muslim hate groups in the United States in 2015 from 2014. This alarming statistic perhaps signifies in some manner how victorious extreme Islam has already become in promoting its doctrine against the infidels of the West.

With intensified radicalism, Islamic Jihadis focus on the United States and the United Kingdom as the poster children for all that is wrong in the world. Those countries that generally support the US and UK foreign policy, such as Canada, Australia, and France, quickly find themselves lumped in with the primary extremist Islamic targets.

As the war of words, chest puffing and exploding bombs embolden each side of what has become both a religious as well as a political conflict, citizens of the West increasingly find themselves torn between embracing religious freedoms for Muslims in general, versus the need to protect themselves from extremism and to ensure safety and security in their country.

Planting Seeds of Destruction

Increasingly from within our domestic borders, the propaganda from radical Muslims is resonating with young disciples, encouraging them to train for martyrdom. Lured by a bouquet of afterlife assurances, and caught up in a frenzy of glory to serve Allah, extremist seeds are planted in the fertile soil of developing minds, so easily done in a western society rife with unemployment, emptiness, and pessimism.

Converts to Islam and Muslims born into the faith alike, at home and abroad, swell the growing ranks of those willing to fight to the death for fundamentalist and extremist beliefs. National security agencies in western countries warn of the radical cells already living among us, determined to destabilize society with promises of home grown violence. Indeed, the recent bombings in Paris are a vivid example of the boldness and tenacity of extreme Islamic youth.

Anjem Choudary is a Top Shelf Extremist

Anjem Choudary, an outspoken Islamist based in London, England and unapologetic crusader of Sharia Law, vows to one day fly the flag of Sharia over 10 Downing Street and The White House. Strong words from an equally resolute personality who was quoted by Press TV in 2013 as saying, "As Muslims, we reject democracy, we reject secularism, and freedom, and human rights”.

If not for the rhetoric of extreme Islam he preaches, most would find Choudary an eloquent and convincing promoter, obviously passionate about his cause, and supremely influential in his teachings. He exudes charisma not unlike history’s despots, that alone making him a dangerous threat to British society and the west.

According to the Counter Extremism Project, a not-for-profit, non-partisan, international policy organization formed to combat the growing threat from extremist ideology, Choudary has founded or co-founded a number of Islamist organizations over the years, only to have them systematically outlawed and proscribed as an illegal ISIS operation by British authorities.

A capable lawyer trained under the British educational system, Choudary seems to have forsaken earning an honest living in favor of receiving public welfare from those he promises to overthrow. Again, from the Counter Extremism Project, “Choudary’s more subversive tactics include advocating that Islamists and would-be jihadists live off of British welfare as Choudary does with his wife and four children in East London. Choudary calls this the “jihad seekers allowance.”

Choudary and his cadre are adept at using the internet and social media to spread their ideology and recruit followers. As quickly as British counterterrorism agencies can dismantle his presence on Twitter and Facebook, Choudary springs up with another account. While no concrete proof exists that Choudary actually trains these neophytes, there is a body of evidence suggesting he indoctrinates them to a particular apex of readiness before pointing them in the right direction for martyrdom training in ISIS/ISIL dominated strongholds.

The British government has charged Anjem Choudary and a counterpart with supporting terrorism by repeatedly violating the UK’s Terrorism Act 2000, with trial set for March 07, 2016. Already stripped of his passport to prevent him from fleeing the jurisdiction, if convicted, Choudary could receive up to ten years in prison.

As reported by the Gatestone Institute, an international policy think tank, “Choudary says he is not afraid of going to prison, which he describes as a fertile ground for gaining more converts to Islam. "If they arrest me and put me in prison..." he warned, "I will radicalize everyone in prison."

The Other ‘N’ Word - Nuclear

Choudary paints a bleak picture, being absolutely committed, by all means necessary, to his beliefs. He has openly endorsed Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) as reported by The Observer, as "the caliph of all Muslims and the prince of the believers". (A caliph is regarded as a person who is a religious successor to the Islamic prophet, Muhammad)

Recently, it was widely reported that extremist Islam is shopping for nuclear weaponry to bolster their campaign for world domination. If successful with such acquisitions, western countries will have to rethink their current strategies regarding extreme Islam as well as those who fund and support such causes.

Teachers With Guns

It is in the human quest to know what is to blame for the mass shootings at schools. We have an insatiable need to assign blame as a way of coping and understanding.

From Columbine, Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook, and many others in the United States, to those in Canada at Montreal’s Ecole Polytechnique, Taber’s W.R. Myers High School in Alberta, and most recently at La Loche Community School in Saskatchewan, educators and law enforcement seem baffled and bewildered at how to prevent mass shootings in schools.

According to Everytown for Gun Safety, an advocacy group working to prevent gun violence and build safer communities, between early 2013 and late 2015, there were 164 reports of school shootings in the United States, few of which made national or international headlines. That equates to about one school shooting per week.

It all started in 1966

Things seemed simpler in the days of black and white television. Educational centers were hallowed ground where crime was rare. Teachers shared a pedestal with police, clergy, and society’s leaders.

That all changed beginning on August 01, 1966 when 25 year old former Marine sharpshooter and mechanical engineering student, Charles Whitman, perched atop the tower on the University of Texas at Austin campus, and shot 43 people in a 95 minute bloodbath, 14 of whom died (officially reclassified as 15 dead when David Gunby died in 2001 at age 58 as a direct result of injuries received in 1966 and the Coroner ruling Gunby’s death a homicide).

The shooting was an event without precedent and was the embryo for the creation and proliferation of SWAT teams that now impregnate police forces.

Whitman knew he had mental problems, and he knew he would die that day too. In his handwritten letter left at the scene where he murdered his mother and wife prior to embarking on his sniper carnage, he asked that there be an autopsy performed and that his brain studied, explaining his long suffering of severe headaches and depression.

At autopsy, it was discovered that Whitman had a pecan sized brain tumor, but an inquiry into the mass shooting denied the tumor played any role in the campus shooting or in that of the killing of his wife and mother.

Awakening in Columbine

Littleton, Colorado achieved infamy in a way nobody wanted, save for Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, students of Columbine High School and perpetrators of what was described in 1999 as “the deadliest high school shooting in US history.” The pair slaughtered twelve students and one teacher, and injured twenty one others before committing suicide.

Both Harris and Klebold were considered outcasts in the community, never quite fitting into any prescribed pigeon hole for which school cliques can be ruthlessly notorious. They were heavily armed with multiple guns and knives, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and 99 home-made bombs. They were determined to make their mark in history.

To the extent that the pair reportedly aspired to mimic the devastation and impact of the Oklahoma City bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in 1995, and given the level of media attention that continues to this day, it could be argued that they achieved those aims.

That said, some would add that the massacre at Columbine not only woke the nation up to bullying and mental health issues at school, but that the duo also touched off a wave of copy cats intent on making their own impressive statement of revenge against perceived injustices.

Taking the Plunge

School boards began openly discussing arming teachers and staff to countermand what some would describe as an epidemic in terms of the volume and intensity of school violence.

Texas has long marched to the beat of its own drum and therefore it should come as little surprise that a school district in the Lone Star State would be the first on the continent to usher in a measure to arm their teachers.

Located in north central Texas in eastern Wilbarger County, the Harrold Independent School District voted in favor of arming school staff in 2007 in response to not only the Columbine shooting, but particularly that of the 2006 West Nickel Mines School, an Amish school in rural Pennsylvania, where circumstances mirrored those of Harrold.

Sparsely populated and located along a major highway connection between metropolitan cities and a considerable distance from first responders and the nearest major tactical team, geography was a primary consideration in the decision to arm school staff as a way to provide safety for Harrold’s 120 students.

Under the District’s established policy, employees are permitted to carry concealed guns on school property and to school board meetings. As a rural community in Texas where hunting is a pastime enjoyed by many, protection from critters is a necessity, and in the state with some of the most liberal gun ownership laws in the US, residents of every age are not unfamiliar with being around guns of all sizes and descriptions.

Asked if he believes arming teachers makes his school safer, Harrold Independent School District Superintendent David Thweatt emphatically answers affirmatively, adding philosophically “Bad things happen… Lots of people like the idea of not being responsible for their own fate. .. I don’t like being a victim”. In speaking with Thweatt, there can be no illusions on his well-informed stance on how being armed makes everyone safer, and he makes no apologies for taking responsibility for protecting himself, his colleagues, his family, and his students, rather than waiting for a law enforcement response.

Since the Harrold Independent School District took the plunge in allowing employees to carry guns, more than half the states in America have passed legislation allowing school districts to do so. Some have even gone so far as to propose deputizing armed teachers, as allowed for under the Protection of Texas Children Act, although Thweatt is quick to point out the differences of deputizing teachers to his Guardian model.

While the Harrold Independent School District opted to allow staff to carry concealed guns, it is not the only solution in arming teachers. Some school districts in the United States have created a central armory inside their schools, so nobody actually carries weapons, prompting questions about how accessible those weapons would be in a tactical emergency situation. Other schools have chosen to arm only a select few staff, rather than leaving it open as to how many guns would be on school property at any given time. Some have chosen to inform students which employees are armed, while others hold that information close to their chest. Still others have proposed wall mounted gun safes in each classroom with an authorized user.

The mobility of carrying concealed guns offered under Thweatt’s Guardian model appears to answer coverage concerns of classrooms and school yards other practices cannot.

Arming teachers appears to be a largely rural solution. Many urban school districts have long employed the use of armed security guards or armed volunteer parents as School Marshals. Proximity to rapid police response and SWAT-style forces allow urban school districts the luxury of taking a more hands off approach. Response time is the biggest enemy for rural schools. Columbine had one uniformed armed security that was located outside, but on school property, the high school at the time of the shootings

With Canada’s more conservative approach to guns, the prospect of arming teachers in this country isn’t even on anyone’s radar, being quickly dismissed as a typical American recipe – add guns and stir.

Not Everyone is in Favor of Arming Teachers with Guns

For its part, the largest teacher’s union in the United States, the National Education Association (NEA), representing some three million members, sees no redeeming qualities in arming teachers. “Guns have no place in our schools. Period. We must do everything we can to reduce the possibility of any gunfire in schools, and concentrate on ways to keep all guns off school property and ensure the safety of children and school employees.``

The NEA is not alone. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence adds its clout against guns in schools, calling the notion of arming teachers ``insane``. The Violence Policy Center (VPC), a Washington, DC based educational organization working to stop gun death and injury in America says, `` The focus should remain on preventing guns from getting into schools, rather than relying on teachers or other education professionals to prevail in a shootout.``

Muddied Waters

With the Second Amendment firmly entrenched in the US Constitution, "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed", gun ownership advocates view any limitation to their right to bear arms as a slippery slope into tyranny. Conversely, having more guns owned by law abiding citizens makes society safer.

Promoting such a viewpoint distracts from getting to the root causes of school shootings. While the Second Amendment needs to be respected and upheld, one might think that setting aside any arguments about the right to own guns has any bearing on identifying how these youth are accessing massive amounts of weaponry and ammunition outside what might be considered acceptable for personal protection.

Further muddying the waters might be the culpability of parents of mass shooters, if they failed to secure guns, or failed to obtain health care intervention, or any other failure on their part as wardens. Regardless of any such shortcomings, it doesn’t change the outcomes of the horrific school shootings. And, as if the waters couldn’t get any murkier, it should not escape anyone’s attention that school shootings occur on college campuses as well, where students are of, or approaching, the age of majority.

Too, not all school shootings are the work of a student, as was the case with gunman Charles Carl Roberts IV where he shot eight school girls at the West Nickel Mines School, killing five.

Looking for a Scapegoat in Mental Illness

Using mental illness as the raison d’etre for school shootings is an oversimplification of a much deeper and darker issue. Media tends to quickly suggest or assign mental illness, diagnosed or otherwise, as the instigator behind school shootings, something at which mental health practitioners collectively roll their eyes and audibly sigh.

Says Shannon Frattaroli, PhD, of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health “Mental illness, in and of itself, isn’t a risk factor for committing violence. We see that people who are suffering from mental illness are more likely to be victims of gun violence than those who are not suffering from mental illness.”

Some in the mental health field equate the stigma of marrying mental illness and mass shootings in two ways to that of cancer.

Firstly, there is no one singular cause for cancer and therefore there can be no one singular treatment. In further using the cancer analogy, there are different reasons that trigger perpetrators of school shootings, and therefore, the need exists to cut a wide swath in addressing the prevention and treatment of school shootings.

And secondly, not everybody with cancer dies. So too, not everybody with a mental illness commits a violent crime such as a school shooting. However, some cancer patients do die, just as some school shooters suffer mental illnesses.

What seems ubiquitous among mental health professionals is that predicting school shootings is impossible, just as that of predicting mass shootings anywhere. Some believe there are key indicators that may help identify students who require intervention, regardless of whether the student has any intention of going on a shooting rampage.

In a study published by the American Journal of Public Health, lead author and Vanderbilt University Professor of Psychiatry, Dr. Jonathan Metzl, supports the position that rather than trying to predict a mental illness as the cause of school shootings, it is far more productive to focus on known predictors of gun violence, namely alcohol and drug use, history of violence, access to firearms, and personal relationship stress.

Evolving the Conversation

It would be wrong to think school districts that choose to arm employees rely exclusively on this solution alone for their security protocols.

Typical preventative security measures at schools only scratch the surface. Installation of metal detectors and surveillance cameras, employing roaming guards, profiling students that exhibit warning signs for violence, and similar passive countermeasures all form part of security in many school districts.. Obviously, it has not been robust enough, and all signs point ominously to it being insufficient in the future.

Misguided as it may be in blaming mental illness for school shootings, the conversation surrounding mental health in Canada has generally evolved to be more open and has broken the stigma that it is the bastard child of public health. That must be seen in a positive light.

Publicity campaigns against bullying and sexual assault in schools and in the community have been successful in raising awareness of violence and mental health issues. Both are now seen as part of the broader spectrum of health care delivery in Canada.

In his 2012 report, School Shootings and Student Mental Health – What Lies Beneath the Tip of the Iceberg, Minneapolis based psychiatrist, William Dikel, MD, advocates an intervention model of locating a mental health clinic inside the school as a real solution, providing easy accessibility for, and closer monitoring of, students.

Somebody needs to open the chequebook and pinpoint effective methods of early intervention. The conversation has begun but more animated action and innovative thinking is paramount if devastating tragedies such as La Loche and similar once weekly school shootings are ever to be prevented.

The Last Word

Almost a decade into their policy of permitting employees to carry guns, Harrold Independent School District’s David Thweatt believes his policy is prudent in preventing school shootings. He adds that nobody is looking forward to a time when they may have to draw their weapons, summing it up this way, “I wouldn’t want to have to call a parent to say we had a shooting at school, but if it did happen, guess what? The bad guy is dead and your child is coming home”.

Links:

Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence

Everytown for Gun Safety

Harrold Independent School District

Violence Policy Center

Nine Things You Need to Know About Fentanyl

Fentanyl has moved to the pinnacle of media and law enforcement attention amid the growing number of overdoses and deaths of Canada's youth.

Used as a powerful pain reliever in medical settings, Fentanyl is being manufactured by criminal organizations with little regard for quality control. Like most synthetic street drugs, Fentanyl can be cut with any powdery substance, legal or not, toxic or otherwise. And that is what makes Fentanyl so dangerous.

Here are nine things you need to know about Fentanyl...

1) Medically speaking, Fentanyl is an opioid used to treat persistent chronic and severe pain. It acts on the brain to increase pain tolerance.

2) The top two sources of Fentanyl are pharmaceutical manufacturers and Mexican drug cartels. But do not be fooled by this statistic. Illicit Fentanyl pills cut with whatever someone wants to add, can be cranked out by any remedial teen in a basement or garage.

3) Illicitly manufactured Fentanyl has been discovered in

• Pill form being sold as fake oxys and other club drugs
• Powder form sold as heroin or fent
• Powder form mixed into other drugs (heroin, cocaine, crystal meth, etc)

4) Fentanyl binds to the body's opiate receptors that are highly concentrated in areas of the brain that control pain and emotions, and drive up dopamine levels in the brain's reward areas, producing a state of euphoria and relaxation.

5) Fentanyl is 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine.

6) For science nerds, the molecular formula for Fentanyl is C22H28N2O.

7) A large percentage of Fentanyl overdoses are due to users being unaware they are taking Fentanyl. Medical tests have confirmed this. Bottom line is you do not have to knowingly use Fentanyl to be at risk from a Fentanyl overdose.

8) Street names for Fentanyl include China White, China Girl, Dance Fever, Goodfella, Jackpot, Murder 8, TNT, and Tango & Cash

9) Know the signs of a Fentanyl overdose. They include...

• Severe sleepiness
• Slow heartbeat
• Trouble breathing
• Slow shallow breathing or snoring
• Cold clammy skin
• Trouble walking or talking

Links: 

British Columbia Harm Reduction Program 
National Institute on Drug Abuse 
StreetDrugs.org