Stop Stereotyping Jane-Finch! Stop Racist Attacks at York University!
The Deets:
Thursday November 29, 2012
12:00 pm until 2:00 pm
York University Student Centre
Toronto, ON
The Call Out:
**please circulate widely**
**send endorsements to: [email protected]**
The Justice IS NOT Colour-Blind (JINCB) Campaign’s Call to Action https://www.facebook.com/groups/justicenotblind/:
Rally, Student Centre, and March to the President’s Open Forum on Campus Safety (Founders Assembly Hall, Room 152 Founders College)
The racist article written in the York student newspaper Excalibur where it is incorrectly argued that the crimes committed on York’s campus are a product of the Jane and Finch community (otherwise known as Black and non-white) is much bigger than a student newspaper.
The lack of response from York University administration regarding this issue considering the large Black and non-white population that attend York especially from Jane and Finch is troubling to say the least. It is especially that much more scary when all three politicians of all levels of government for the riding of where York University is located – have remained silent on the issue (Anthony Perruzza City Councillor for Ward 8; Mario Sergio, MPP York West and; Judy Sgro Liberal MP York West).
White supremacist racial profiling of Black youth in the city of Toronto has led to a false belief in Black criminality. This creates a toxic environment on university campuses where these beliefs can be spread in curriculum and administration.
The same people and institutions that control the school system control the prison system, economic, and political systems. Therefore, the university system benefits from the spreading of the racist idea espoused in Excalibur because it feeds their interest of maintaining the white supremacist male power structure.
Universities do not teach Black students to create solutions to effectively change the condition of their community; they TRAIN Black students to be a worker for the capitalist system. Any challenging of this system is met with the police industrial complex which the university uses to quash any progressive demands for change.
This can be seen when on September 19, 2012 when the Jane-Finch Action Against Poverty (JFAAP) organized a rally in the Student Centre to demand an apology from Excalibur for their racist assertions. Many supporters, including JINCB, were in attendance and were met by a barricade of York security and a large contingent of Toronto Police officers.
Their response was to pull the fire alarm under false pretenses and evacuate the entire Student Centre. This act is indicative of a united Anglo-Celtic culture that opposes any substantial change that exists in the university and criminal justice system. Therefore,
– We demand an immediate end to all racist programs, policies and practices that target black people, which include but are not limited to: TAVIS, carding and racial profiling.
– We demand an end to the practice of sweeps and raids of black people, which have been used under false pretexts, in order to criminalize the community.
– We reject the notion of justifiable homicide and want the families of all black victims of police killings, to be fully compensated by the Province of Ontario, for their pain and suffering, whether or not there are civil actions pending.
– Given the documented physical, psychological, mental, economic and other injuries resulting from being racially profiled, we demand the criminalization of the practice of racial profiling. We believe that racial profiling is a tenet of systemic racism, which is institutional racism. Consequently, we want the immediate arrests and vigorous prosecutions of all police officers in Ontario that have killed black victims.
– We demand an immediate end to the incestuous relationships between the Attorney General’s ministry, SIU, and police services. We want the SIU to be a truly independent and forceful agency, staffed with civilians from top to bottom, and throughout. Furthermore, we call for an independent body to be organized that can hold the SIU responsible. This body must be made up solely of community members with substantial disciplinary powers to keep the SIU truly accountable.
Furthermore, we unite with JFAAP’s demands of:
– A formal apology from Excalibur‘s Editorial Board
– A formal apology from York University.
– The inclusion of an op-ed on this subject in the next of Excalibur written by JFAAP addressing this issue and rejecting these prejudices.
JINCB further proposes the following solutions to enhance the student experience at York for Black and non-white students:
– Free education for all Black students, as a form of reparations
– That York work with Black scholars to develop a Black Studies Department
– The substantial hiring of more Black and non-white professors in all areas of study
– Increased funding for African, Caribbean, and other Critical studies departments
Event endorsed by: Justice IS NOT Colour-Blind Campaign, OPIRG York, York United Black Students’ Alliance, Centre for Women and Trans People
#30#
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