Systemic racism has been embedded within society for years, destroying the promise of equality for all. The lack of access to resources is an example of systemic racism, where laws and policies put certain racial groups at a disadvantage. The novel, How It Went Down by Kekla Magoon and the article “Systemic racism in Yukon’s education system under review” by Dana Hatherly, both address racism through government systems. Since racism continues to affect marginalized racial groups by creating barriers, it is crucial to provide access to resources through government systems, such as education and policing. Police are a service that is appointed to serve and protect the community. They are meant to be trusted with any truth you come to them with. …show more content…
Rocky is described as a man who does not want any trouble, so he does not have to answer anyone's questions later. This also suggests that Rocky fears the police and the trouble he can get into because of his skin colour. Fearing the police is very useless for a community as it takes away from their purpose, which is part of why crimes are so regular in Underhill. It is crucial to get rid of racially biased perspectives from policing systems, since racism can not only defeat the purpose of a service, but also further hurt a community. Secondly, everyone has a right to an educational space where everyone feels included and respected, though in Yukon, Canada, this may not be the case. This is proven in an article that showcases systemic racism towards the First Nations peoples in Yukon through education. Melanie Bennet, the executive director of the First Nation Directorate, explains how “a review of systemic racism in education in the Yukon is crucial for examining and pinpointing the ways a system can “unknowingly discriminate” against some of its students (Harthley
This relation believes that the “law shapes --and is shaped by-- the society in which it operates (Elizabeth Comack,2014) As people our interactions and experiences are administered by our social positioning in society, and that social location is conditioned by three key elements: our race, class, and gender. These three elements have been used to divide, separate and categorize society. (Comeck,2014) . Racial profiling is something that I believe is extremely evident in Canada. Racial profiling is defined as targeting individuals for law enforcement based on the colour of their skin, which can lead to practices like carding. (Chan, 2007). Carding is a police practice that involves stopping, questioning and documenting people in mostly non-criminal encounters. (Chan, 2007) Stopping people on the street for no reason to ask them who they are, and what they are up to is outrageous and can have fatal consequences. On September 24, 2014, at 10:00pm Jermaine Carby was sitting in the passenger seat of his friend’s car while out for a drive. They were pulled over for a traffic stop in Brampton by a Peel police officer. This police officer went around to the passenger’s side and asked Carby for his identity so he could card him. When conducting this street check the officer discovered the Vancouver had a warrant for his arrest. Allegedly, this is when Carby started threatening officers with a large knife. A knife that witnesses nor
One might define the relations between police and community relations in the Jane and Finch area of Toronto to be very discriminating. The start of the film already gives some insight on the issue which the film is trying to portray. A coloured man’s is being harassed because the police do not think that he has ownership for the van to which he claimed he owned. The police were violating his rights and treating him in an impolite manner simply because of the standard that has been set, claiming that all coloured individuals are violent and dangerous. This is also the case because the film has been recorded in the Jane and Finch area; where people are looked down upon and regarded as dangerous, violent and unemployed.
This article will examine the perpetuation of racism in Canada by the mainstream news media by examining three elements: (1) the impact the news media has on mainstream society (i.e. how it shapes thoughts and behaviours), (2) modern manifestations of racism, in particular subtle forms of racism, and (3) the use and impact of racial discourse (such as racial stereotypes and the framing of criminal and deviant behaviour as a racial problem) on society. This article argues that the news media not only reflects and reinforces racism in society through racialised discourse, but also creates and perpetuates subtle notions of bias and exclusion.
...between them and the “Others,” though after 9/11 this “innocences” of living in an harmonious world was no longer due to the actions of the ‘terrorists’ (Street, 2003). The inquiry report on racial profiling from OHRC was serving a purpose to demonstrate anti-hegemony which delineates as the refusal to give permission to all that is wrong, encourage the knowledge of different cultures, and oppose to a single powerful group from ruling the system (Stand, 2014). Informing Canadian’s on racial profiling is a great start to raising consciousness, however knowledge is not everything. Knowledge without answers is only awareness and in order to change racial profiling individuals need direction. Perhaps OHRC could present a new report with answers to end racial profiling or at least where to begin, because with proper guidance racial profiling can be modified and destroyed.
Rocky deliberately avoided the old time ways … he called it superstition.”(Silko, 51) By showing us how Rocky deliberately avoids the ways of his people, the traditions of his own family, Silko highlights the push for Native Americans to essentially become white. Rocky represents an entire generation that is being told that they need to completely renounce their way of life in order to be accepted by modern society. Part of this acceptance was also promised through participating in World War Two, as shown through the army recruiter “Anyone can fight for America… even you boys. In a time of need anyone can fight for her.”(Silko, 64) Silko uses the recruiter as a voice for opinions in the US, enticing its alienated cultures with a kind of equality. As the audience, we clearly know it is a temporary change, and Silko highlights this by mentioning “In a time of need”, but Rocky, a person already trying to embrace change, sees this as a chance to become equal to the whites. He as well as many others are fooled by the whites into thinking that positive change is happening, ironically, this promise of a better life leads to his fate. In a jungle nowhere near home, participating in a war, having nothing to do with his people, Rocky dies as a white man. By ending Rocky’s life in this way, Silko allows
Smith, Brad W., and Malcolm D. Holmes. "Community accountability, minority threat, and police brutality: An examination of civil rights criminal complaints." Criminology 41.4 (2003): 1035-1064.
In the article “Point: Racial Profiling in Law Enforcement is Unjust”, Adele Cassola determines that racial profiling is an extensive problem in policing across Canada. She identifies that racial profiling is based on stereotypes of race, ethnicity, and cultural background with African-Canadians, Arab-Canadians, and Aboriginal Canadians being targeted most frequently. Racial profiling is not unique to law enforcement and immigration, Cassola asserts, “it is a wide spread problem within other institutions and establishments as well” (2009). She discovered a survey that showed Toronto's African-Canadian secondary school students were stopped four times more frequently and searched six times more frequently than their non-black classmates. In an article from the Toronto Star newspaper in 2002, Cassola notes that African-Canadians were subject...
How minorities feel about police 2. Employing minorities 3. Unfair treatment of minorities within the legal system This review of the information on minorities and policing focuses on these three issues.
Comack, E. (2012). Racialized policing: Aboriginal people's encounters with the police. Black Point, Nova Scotia: Fernwood Publishing.
Aboriginal communities experience oppression and live in quieter urban and rural areas. Due to this, they are not able to benefit from society’s organizations as the residents in the busy cities do. Therefore, they need more support from the city officials to be safe when experiencing violence. However, the communities they live in are not providing them with the resources to overcome violence. Functionalism explains the members need to benefit more from police forces; this helps emphasize that police officers must develop safer shelters and protocols. Meaning, they can create secure community buildings for the citizens to be protected in by a higher authority. Likewise, the officials are the only individuals who can attempt to stop the murders from reoccurring by solving the murder cases and charging the person. The police influence society’s wellbeing, and by not protecting Aboriginal community’s lives, they contribute to the deaths and society moves away from
Criminalization is a term with many connections to smaller terms such as racialization, discrimination, marginalization, and oppression. This term is also connected to smaller terms as well as factors such as social location, age, race, sexuality, and religion. Overtime, this term has evolved into a concept encompassing many different social categories and inflated by many micro-aggressions controlled by normativity and the status quo. It is through a critical perspective and an anti-oppressive lens that I will discuss the evolution of racialization and criminalization in connection to minorities as well as its connection to the prison system and how it relates to crime and violence in Canadian society.
No community in Canada comes into conflict with criminal justice system officials more disproportionately than Aboriginals (Dickson-Gilmore, 2011, p.77). Indeed, Aboriginal Canadians are often subject to both overt and unintended discrimination from Canadian law enforcement due in large part to institutionalized reputations as chronic substance abusers who are incapable of reform (Dickson-Gilmore, 2011, p.77-78). One of the more startling contemporary examples of this is the case of Frank Paul; a Mi’kmaq Canadian who was left to die in a Vancouver alley by officers of the Vancouver Police Department after being denied refuge in a police “drunk tank”. Not surprisingly, this event garnered significant controversy and public outcry amongst Canada’s Aboriginal population who have long been subject to over-policing and persistent overrepresentation as offenders in the Canadian criminal justice system (Jiwani & Dickson-Gilmore, 2011, p.43 & 81).
Have you ever been discriminated against simply because your skin is darker than the next person? Have you ever been told by someone that “your pretty for a dark skin girl or boy?” Have you ever been racist toward your own race? Since long before we or our parents were born, the black community has faced this problem with racism within the same race. In the black community, it is said that if a person have a lighter skin complexion, than they are superior to those with a darker skin complexion. Racism within the black community is a serious issue that needs to be addressed.
This article that I have chosen is a perfect example of why officers commit police brutality on people especially minorities. Racial profiling by officers must also end because not everyone in a certain race is a criminal. What I have read in the text complements the information about police brutality that this article provides because they both explain why officers go after minorities due to them assuming the person is going to fight back. This article also complements the in class discussions on this subject.
Toronto, Canada: Canadian Scholars' Press, 2000. 167-186. The 'Secondary' of the 'Secon Ogawa, Brian K. Color of Justice: Culturally Sensitive Treatment of Minority Crime Victims. Allen and Bacon: Needham Heights, MA, 1999. Saleh Hanna, Viviane.