Susan Clairmont: Tired of ‘dealing with racism’ in New York, murder victim and friends came to Canada to party

The carload of young Black men from New York came to the bar in Hamilton because they usually got fewer hassles here.

But by the end of this night, one of them would be shot dead.

Race may not be the reason Michael Parmer was murdered. But testimony at the Zoom trial of his alleged killer makes it clear race played a role in the events that happened in the early morning hours of Sept. 9, 2005.

Michael was a 22-year-old Black casino worker from Niagara Falls, N.Y. He and four buddies - all Black - had taken a liking to CDs Sports Bar on Ottawa Street North. They had been there three times before.

The friends were having trouble getting into establishments" in the United States, Michael's roommate Eugene Banks told a virtual courtroom Wednesday. Why?

We believed, racial profiling. They would find anything we were wearing to deny us entry."

He explained that young Black men judged to be wearing gang colours would be denied entry to clubs at home.

They wanted an N-word limit to their establishments."

Banks and his friends were tired of dealing with racism."

That Thursday night was reggae and hip hop night at CDs. The guys made it to the club around midnight.

When asked if he was wearing gang colours that night, Banks said: I know I had a Canadian tuxedo on. Jean top. Jean bottoms. I was looking fly."

Banks, now 38, is a colourful guy. He talks a lot, seems amicable and has a sense of humour. By his own account, if he's been drinking - and he did have a few that night 16 years ago - he is even more of an extrovert.

He relayed to the court that he was flirting, singing, clowning, dancing, laughing and goofing off" after the bar closed and the crowd made its way to a nearby parking lot.

He wonders if that raucous behaviour somehow contributed to Michael's murder.

I thought we were resented because we're American. We're loud."

We can take a lesson or two in humbleness from Canadians," Banks said. We're big on Look at me.'"

He and his friends were just loud and free."

The Americans drew stares from a couple of men.

Like another friend from his group who testified earlier, Banks referred to their demeanour as mean mugging."

They wanted to show they weren't pleased with our presence. They wanted us to know that."

Both those men were Black, noted Banks.

In America, there's a lot of Black on Black violence," Banks said. If you're in an area where you don't see a smiling face from your own people, then you register that."

But that night, they weren't in America.

My mind keeps going back to This is Canada,'" he told the court. We only get this stuff back at home. Being on the wrong block."

The Crown theory is that Michael was shot that night because he flirted with the girlfriend of Jermaine Dunkley.

Dunkley was a crack dealer and gang leader who spent his teen years in Hamilton before moving back to his old neighbourhood in Toronto.

The Crown says Dunkley shot Michael in the eye. It would be a dozen years before he would be arrested and charged with first degree murder.

Dunkley is currently serving a life sentence for another, unrelated murder in Toronto.

The judge-alone trial has heard that another of Michael's friends from that night picked Dunkley from a police lineup of photos of 12 Black men, recognizing him from the parking lot.

Banks lives in Pennsylvania now. He testified virtually from the U.S. Attorney's Office there.

He remembers with fondness those first few times cross-border partying with Michael and the guys in Canada.

We always had respect when we went over there. We always got treated with love."

Susan Clairmont is a Hamilton-based crime, court and social justice columnist at The Spectator. Reach her via email: sclairmont@thespec.com