Institutional Racism
Reality | Theorem = People
It's nothing new, but it doesn't make it any less tragic. Another officer has been cleared of any wrong doing in the murder of a young man, who was unarmed.
"[Institutional racism consists of the] collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture, or ethnic origin" Gillborn, D (2006) PP.3.
We've seen this happen in the UK, a number of times... man believed to be terrorist shot down in the tube; Jean Charles de Menezes. Young man believed to be carrying concealed weapon shot down; Mark Duggan. Young man, murdered in cold blood in the streets, dismissed as gang crime; no gang association... Stephen Lawrence. And in the USA; Michael Brown, similar reports almost annually.
In each of these situations; as far as I'm led to believe, the people involved were cleared of wrong doing. In justification: They were doing their duty of protecting the civilians. When you look into these stories what we tend to see is a non-surprising racial profile of victim and assailant. Case after case, we see men in powerful systematic positions, abuse their responsibility.
What does it lead to?
The peaceful protests of Stephen Lawrence, The violent riots in the USA, that have happened, that are happening... The London riots which sparked all over the UK on the case of Mark Duggan... With exception to peaceful protests, we see violence emerging, from "innocent" people, trying to make a point against the corruption and fascism they see; in their opinion.
And these cases are failures; no doubt, of policing organisations in the most developed nations, period.
What upsets me here isn't the fact that there's institutional racism, that's a complete given - and frankly you'd be ignorant to think that that would disappear given that as long as differences in humanity exist, as long as inequality exists... and as long as people exist, there will be discrimination.
It's that most people; the majority of which aged between 14-25, would rather go out to the streets and engage in mindless crime and violent protest... than to use the injustices of this planet to Educate themselves and BE the CHANGE they want to see in the system. There's excellent talks on TED about what people are doing to try to change the world, and amazing stories about children winning Nobel Prizes for the work they do... but I'm yet to hear of someone who stands up on stage, who works behind the scenes, who creates policies, who manages policing institutions...
Saying I am here for "Stephen Lawrence. Mark Duggan. Jean Charles de Menezes. Michael Brown."
But... forever the optimist, I hope there is a young individual out there, who will one day stand up and say that. Their work just hasn't started yet.
Alex Yagoub
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Twitter: @AlexYagoub
It's nothing new, but it doesn't make it any less tragic. Another officer has been cleared of any wrong doing in the murder of a young man, who was unarmed.
"[Institutional racism consists of the] collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture, or ethnic origin" Gillborn, D (2006) PP.3.
We've seen this happen in the UK, a number of times... man believed to be terrorist shot down in the tube; Jean Charles de Menezes. Young man believed to be carrying concealed weapon shot down; Mark Duggan. Young man, murdered in cold blood in the streets, dismissed as gang crime; no gang association... Stephen Lawrence. And in the USA; Michael Brown, similar reports almost annually.
In each of these situations; as far as I'm led to believe, the people involved were cleared of wrong doing. In justification: They were doing their duty of protecting the civilians. When you look into these stories what we tend to see is a non-surprising racial profile of victim and assailant. Case after case, we see men in powerful systematic positions, abuse their responsibility.
What does it lead to?
The peaceful protests of Stephen Lawrence, The violent riots in the USA, that have happened, that are happening... The London riots which sparked all over the UK on the case of Mark Duggan... With exception to peaceful protests, we see violence emerging, from "innocent" people, trying to make a point against the corruption and fascism they see; in their opinion.
And these cases are failures; no doubt, of policing organisations in the most developed nations, period.
What upsets me here isn't the fact that there's institutional racism, that's a complete given - and frankly you'd be ignorant to think that that would disappear given that as long as differences in humanity exist, as long as inequality exists... and as long as people exist, there will be discrimination.
It's that most people; the majority of which aged between 14-25, would rather go out to the streets and engage in mindless crime and violent protest... than to use the injustices of this planet to Educate themselves and BE the CHANGE they want to see in the system. There's excellent talks on TED about what people are doing to try to change the world, and amazing stories about children winning Nobel Prizes for the work they do... but I'm yet to hear of someone who stands up on stage, who works behind the scenes, who creates policies, who manages policing institutions...
Saying I am here for "Stephen Lawrence. Mark Duggan. Jean Charles de Menezes. Michael Brown."
But... forever the optimist, I hope there is a young individual out there, who will one day stand up and say that. Their work just hasn't started yet.
Alex Yagoub
Like - Comment - Share
Twitter: @AlexYagoub
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