Thursday, October 13, 2016

When "Walk a Mile in my Shoes" Becomes a Reality.

     In Toronto black community members have voiced their opinions based on police racism and discrimination. Recently the police have started a new thing called 'carding' which is officers' question individuals on the street without cause and that was seen as racial profiling by the members of the black community. The policeman believe they don't racially profile anybody. CBC News asked a young black male and a white police officer to switch places with one another only for a day to get a closer look at the many different opinions. Lance Constantine is a 28 year old African American male who attends Humber College, is a musician and a motivational speaker in the Malton neighborhood. He says he is often racially profiled and fears the police such as other young black males. Adam Marshall is a 31 year old police officer who acknowledges that there is miscommunication between the black community and the policemen. These two have never met before until September 9th when they switched lives to see what it is like walking in the shoes of one another. Constantine had dinner with Marshall's family which led to a heated conversation between him and Scott Milne, Marshall's uncle. Scott referred to Malton as "a place like that." Constantine says "that's the issue, though. It's the perception that this are is bad. I went to school in that area. I became who I am because of that area." Scott admitted that he had racist ideas about black people and he's trying to change. Marshall went to Bampton where Constantine mentored students. "I've had a family member that was killed by police back in 2011-- Junior Alexander Manon ... And it was shocking, you know, because growing up ... you look up to police, and it was rough," 17 year old Shawn Cadena said. Constantine suited up with a bulletproof vest to prepare for patrolling the streets with the police Sgt. Josh Colley. Constantine told Colley about his experience with the police; he was leaving McDonald's with his little sister when officers stopped him and cuffed him for no reason. Chipping his tooth when thrown against the police car. He said this was a "scarring moment." Meanwhile, Marshall is playing basketball with Constantine's friends in Bampton. Denying police targeting certain people or neighborhoods and said they show up when they're called. Constantine's friends keep a clear message that they feel they get treated way differently because of the color of their skin. The next day Constantine and Marshall met for the first time since the life swap. "Do you feel that young black males are treated differently?" Constantine asks. "I could tell you that certainly did used to exist ... It used to exist in a big way. Am I saying it doesn't exist in some small way now? It's possible. It's definitely possible. But I think it's getting better, and for me, I want it to get better." Marshall replies.
       This was educational because you probably couldn't truly get a police officer to do something like that. This shows what it's like for African Americans and how they fear for their lives everyday. The part that really stood out was all of the statements from black people and how they all are so scared to just be living.

Article Title: In his shoes: White police officer and young black man swap lives for a day.

http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/NewsDetailsPage/NewsDetailsWindow?disableHighlighting=true&displayGroupName=News&currPage=&scanId=&query=&prodId=OVIC&search_within_results=&p=OVIC&mode=view&catId=&limiter=&display-query=&displayGroups=&contentModules=&action=e&sortBy=&documentId=GALE%7CA465468354&windowstate=normal&activityType=&failOverType=&commentary=true&source=Bookmark&u=dayt30401&jsid=3cb569628e057ce893f62bbfc03c062a

1 comment:

  1. This was a cool idea. Too bad Constantine had to deal with that rude uncle. Why did they even have him at dinner? It sounds like Marshall had fun. It's nice that it talks about a police officer who isn't racist. They have been getting so much hate, even the ones who aren't racist. It also shows that there are still rude jerks like Marshall's uncle.

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