LIVING WHILE BLACK CAN GET YOU

KILLED
By Robyn Matthews

FEBRUARY 26TH, 2012: FLORIDA:

TRAYVON MARTIN, 17, FATALLY
SHOT BY ZIMMERMAN, 28, TRIAL
ENDS IN ACQUITTAL
JULY 17TH, 2014: NEW YORK: ERIC
GARNER, 43, KILLED BY CHOKE
HOLD BY OFFICER PANTALEO,
NOT INDICTED
AUGUST 9TH, 2014: FERGUSON,
MISSOURI: MIKE BROWN, 18,
FATALLY SHOT 8 TIMES BY
OFFICER DARREN WILSON, 28,
NOT INDICTED

States after incidents during the summer

of 2014.

WHAT IS RACIAL PROFILING?

Racial profiling is when your decision to
take action or engage in enforcement is
based on an individuals race, ethnicity,
religion, colour, etc. Racial profiling is
rooted by racism, which is a belief that
race mainly distinguishes human traits
and capacities, usually involving the
idea that ones own race is superior to
another. For example, a stop and frisk
may be more likely if the police officer is
white and the individual is black.
too

Racial profiling is alive and

BEING
IN too,
THE but
US
well inBLACK
Canada
much less talked about than
in the states.
BEING BLACK IN THE US

Above: Students rally at the University

of Minnesota to protest police brutality.
One of many protests across the United

While people of color make up about 30

percent of the United States population,
they account for 60 percent of those
imprisoned. This furthermore puts a
negative stigma on the countrys colored
population, portraying them to be more
violent and criminal. Many black citizens
are scared of the police due to ongoing
incidents and are constantly reminded

that they are black through similar

incidents themselves (stop and frisks,
harassment, etc.)
ISSUES AT HOME
Racial profiling is alive and well in
Canada too, but much less talked about
than in the states, due to less fatal
incidents.
Based on a survey from a report of the
Commission on Systematic Racism in
the Ontario Criminal Justice System, of
1200 civilians 44% of African Canadian
males had been stopped and
questioned at least once in the previous
two years, compared to 25% of white
males. This proves that just because
there are less fatal incidents in our
country (which may be caused by the
illegality of carrying armed weapons) it
does not mean that racial profiling is
nonexistent.

particular goal, to put an end to racial

profiling and the discrimination of certain
races. The protests grew larger by day
and many protesters were arrested,
including reporters for The Washington
Post and The Huffington Post. Police
used excessive force on many
protesters by firing tear gas and rubber
bullets at lines of protesters and
reporters. President Obama later
addressed the issue stating that there
was no excuse for the police to use
unnecessary violence on peaceful
protesters or to throw them in jail for
exercising their First Amendment rights.
These protests became viral and helped
to globally spread the awareness of
racial profiling.

PUTTING AN END TO RACISM

Many people believe that in order to
prevent racism, we must first be
educated and educate about it, as well
as put an end to categorizing people by
their skin colour. With recent events,
racism will not be put to an end anytime
soon, but people all over the world are
joining together to help put an end to the
injustice that we call racism. The day
after Mike Browns fatal shooting, an
uprising of protests and marches began.
People of all ethnic backgrounds joined
together hand in hand with one

Times square shut down by thousands of

protesters.

SOURCES
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferguson_unrest
http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/learning/wha
t-discrimination/racial-profiling
http://crr.ca/diversfiles/en/onGoing/racProf/rep/eRacProfR
epRacProfFctSh.pdf