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.