American journalists Tonye Allen and Ann Brown have made media headlines as the blatant victims of racial profiling and police brutality in Toronto, Canada. The couple has struggled publicly since the assault in October 2006 to share their story, gain public support, and raise funds in their bid for freedom in a foreign land. In November 2007, Tonye Allen was found guilty of two counts of assault on an officer.


It was October 16, 2006 when Tonye Allen and Ann Brown hailed that cab outside of a hotel in Toronto, Canada. On that fateful day, police from Toronto Division 51 detained the two without explanation. When the couple asked questions, the police turned violent, beating up and arresting Tonye Allen, while assaulting Ann Brown.



The journalists, whose combined writing and photography credits include Essence, Black Enterprise, VIBE and Rolling Stone to name a few, have been trapped in Toronto ever since, fighting for justice while trying to maintain their daily livelihood. Both are professionals with no prior criminal records.



The Crown, (the city of Toronto's office of prosecution ) filed formal charges and pursued a case against Allen; two counts for resisting arrest and two counts for assaulting a police officer. Allen still does not know what he was initially being arrested for, and maintains he never fought back. Photos of his brutalization pretty much corroborate his story.


Allen, also professionally know as TRIBOLITE, was convicted on November 23, 2007, on two counts of assaulting a police officer. Two counts of assault and resisting arrest were dismissed. Justice William R. Wolski of the Ontario Court of Justice gave Allen a conditional discharge on the first charge, placed him on six months of probation on the second and imposed a five-year prohibition on carrying weapons. He also had to submit his DNA for a police DNA bank.


Allen and Brown plan to appeal and have initiated the process.Their blog, which posts details of their lenghty drama, can be accessed at myspace.com/nyclagirl. To sign a petition in their support go to Justice 4 Tonye Allen & Ann Brown Petition . And finally, financial support can be forwarded to www.Paypal.com , account: brownannl@gmail.com .


"We are so thankful for all the support we have received internationally," expresses Brown. "Tonye was originally facing five years, so we are of course relieved that that did not happen. But the extreme violation of our human rights demands that we appeal. Tonye was brutalized for nothing, and then falsely convicted of a crime. It is a travesty that Canada, long recognized as a safe haven, has become a land of brutality."


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