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Silence on police carding of White working-class
http://sharenews.com/silence-on-police-carding-of-white-working-class/Date Written: 2015-09-02 Publisher: Share Year Published: 2015 Resource Type: Article Cx Number: CX18050 a majority of the people who are carded are Whites. The cops in the city of Hamilton and other municipalities have pointed to this fact to make the incorrect claim that carding is not racist. Why haven’t we universally raised class profiling to a similar level as racial profiling? Abstract: - Excerpt: a majority of the people who are carded are Whites. The cops in the city of Hamilton and other municipalities have pointed to this preceding fact to make the incorrect claim that carding is not racist. To what extent does the failure to closely examine the Whites who are being carded a result of the social class of those who experience this form of police violence? The wealthy Whites who rule Canada have yet to demonstrate that White working-class lives matter, except when race is used to set poor Whites against poor racialized and Indigenous peoples. Why haven’t we universally raised class profiling to a similar level as racial profiling? ... The public uproar and opposition to carding stems from the over-representation of Afrikan-Canadians, Indigenous and other racialized peoples in these street harassment cases and detention by the cops. The carding of racialized peoples is largely based on racial profiling and not criminal profiling. Therefore, it is understandable that the racial character of carding is highlighted in the movement to abolish this street harassment scheme. But we have a moral obligation to look at the complete experience of this type of police violence. Between 2008 and 2012, Whites were a plurality of the people carded ... If we look at the stated reasons for carding contacts, it is reasonable to come to the conclusion that working-class people of all races are more likely to be approached by the cops in the above situations. ... It is time to bring working-class Whites into the national conversation on the repressive nature of carding. We have the capacity to organize around the homophobic, racist, classist or gendered experiences of police violence without neglecting or diminishing the experience of a particular group. Canada is a country with a working-class majority and activists should never shy away from raising questions around class oppression. Subject Headings |