Terrible Stereotypes Of Racism And The Judicial System In Canada

Most white Canadians and American’s now days like to believe that racism is a thing of the past and in no way affects today’s society. They believe that the terrible circumstances of the black community is a result of black people and nothing else. Terrible stereotypes submerged from this flawed way of thinking like “Black people are thugs”, “black people are criminals”. Black people are more likely to commit crimes because they are at a disadvantage that doesn’t allow them to achieve a better life. The judicial system never benefits people of colour, income inequality between races isn’t improving, and black people are discouraged in the educational system
Black people are the largest minority represented in Canadians jail today. Considering
black people are not even the second largest minority in Canada, these stats do not add up.
The most prevalent example of this is the carding system in Toronto. Carding is a system implanted by the police where they stop, frisk, and document people during non-criminal encounters. Statistics show that black and Latino people are more likely to be carded than white people. This system makes the individuals feel criminalized for not even doing anything wrong. The effect of knowing people have a preconceived notion that they’re criminals will discourage them from reaching higher in life. Also it seems that more each day we hear about the unlawful killings in the United States where police brutality is major problem. Young black men are being gunned down because they are perceived as violent. Just this summer Jermaine Carby was shot and killed by peel police during a traffic stop in Brampton. Andrew Loku a 45 year old man was gunned down by Toronto police just this summer as well. These incidents prove police brutality is a major problem here in Canada and it’s fueled by the prejudice against black people. In
addition black people are being sentenced for longer periods of time than their white counterparts who committed the same crime. There is a war on people of colour, now days it seems like it’s illegal to be black. The entire justice system is against those of darker complexion. This anti-black mentality that the judicial system has is a disadvantage that black people have to endure. This isn’t equal opportunity for everyone, this isn’t equal opportunity for everyone to achieve the most they can. This is why many black people are enticed by streets and criminal activity in order to support themselves because they know it would be harder to do it the right way.
Income inequality is a huge factor as to why there are many black people dealing in illegal activity.
The wealth gap between black people and white people is exceptionally big and keeps growing as the years go by. A typical black household earns about 6% of the income a white household would earn. It’s proven that people with “black sounding” have a hard time finding jobs. Employers are now starting to base a person’s worth ethic on their names. If the name sound “black” the person is perceived to not be a good worker. This is a form of institutionalized racism that goes on all around us that we don’t notice. Also when black people do get the job they have to work twice as hard to be considered equal to their white co-workers. This discourages black individuals from trying to achieve those jobs. Lastly white people own more money because they have old money from generations back. Slavery in the U.S was finally abolished in 1865 so black people only began to start owning wealth 150 years ago. Income inequalities is the biggest hindrance on black people because now days more money equals more opportunity. Essentially, disparities created by slavery in the past persist today because that time wasn’t that far
away.
Education and the lack of it is also a factor that contributes black people participating in more criminal activity. From the very start black children are not expected to get too far. Black parents who are less educated do not encourage their children to strive for higher education, and without this encouragement black children are not pushing themselves to go farther in school. Also black students are 3 times more likely to be held back than their white counter parts, and being held back does not benefit the child. Lastly in school black students are more likely to be harshly punished for the same infraction than their white peers. Black people are 3 times more likely to be suspended, or expelled for the same offence as a white student.
So now with all that being said, do these stereotypes still ring true? “Black people are thugs” “black people are criminals”. Black people are only labeled these stereotypes because people society is ignorant to the racism in the social structures. Black people are more likely to commit crimes because they are at a disadvantage that doesn’t allow them to get a better life.