Police Fairness And Equality

Growing up, we were always taught to believe Police officers were available to serve and protect their community members at all times. But with the hidden media, and protected information behind the doors of the police stations that we are unaware of, are they really always on board with protecting their members as they claim to be? The fairness and equality towards a rape case became questionable when a women named Jessica Raven, was raped and beaten up by a man in the year 2015 of October and was not given any sympathy or acknowledgement towards the case until it had happened a second time under very similar circumstances to a white woman. “Its not right, its racist” commented by Raven. Why was ravens case not being taken with full level

of concernment?

Living in a world where racism still exist and where a hierarchical society still lives within people, it has come to no surprise that the level of importance of Raven case became disregarded. “One of my friends was raped, a white woman, now they want to talk to me?” commentary made by Raven.

Which brings us to question, does being “white” increase and intensify the severity of the case? Or was Raven`s case unimportant due to the fact that she was a sex worker? Or perhaps just a First Nations Women? In the related article, reframing violence, a point by Angela Harris (1997) was brought up to our attention where she demonstrated how historically rape against women of other kinds, specifically black women was not considered as rape by the dominant society and that there were no law enforced on rape against black women. However, when the rape or alleged rape was attacked on a white woman, it often resulted in the severe consequences (Jiwani, 2006) Angela’s analysis proves evidence of the unequal and unfair rights towards the law, which connects back with the case of Raven where the Thunder Bay Police officers belittled and ignored her concern but showed the attention and concern when it happened to a non-aboriginal woman, specifically a white woman.

The unease and worriment brings us far from a peace of mind to know that there is a possibility that our safety may be determine by the color of our skin. Are we really kept safe by the people who are supposedly our protectors to our communities? Are they reliable with our safety in their hands or should concerns arise if we are not of the “norm” in other words, is not being “white” a disadvantage in society?