The following materials were brought to my attention by
Sidra Sabzwari. Please read and comment on the article and the letters to the editor that follow.
January 10 Excalibur (York University Student Newspaper)
Student arrested while protesting alleged profiling
A York student was arrested after vocalizing his opinions about racial profiling on campus and waving around an object that appeared to be a gun.
Jon Boadi, a York student, was arrested by the Toronto Police in York Lanes last Wednesday, Jan. 3 at approximately 5:30 p.m.
Ten police officers from 31 Division arrested Boadi outside of the York bookstore after they received an emergency call from York Security and other bystanders that he was holding a gun up in the air.
It was later confirmed by 31 Division that the gun reports were false. Boadi is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday, Jan. 10.
Jayson Young, a York student, was sitting in a nearby restaurant when he noticed Boadi talking loudly outside. He described Boadi's actions as an attempt at a political statement rather than as a threatening act.
"To me, it seemed at first like performance art," Young said.
Witnesses said that Boadi was suggesting that the recent York Campus Alert was an example of racial profiling on campus.
York University posted a public alert around campus in mid-December after police issued a composite sketch of a description of who they believe committed the sexual assaults in the area.
The campus alert displays the police composite photo at the top with a written description underneath: "Male, black, 25 to 35 years, 6'0", medium build, bald or shaved head, red shirt, black ballcap."
"He was proving a point; he was drawing attention to the fact that this is kind of a farcical example of justice by the university," Young said. "He was commenting on whether this is an effective way to deal with some terrible behaviour that's been going on on campus."
Although emergency calls placed to police stated that Boadi was brandishing a gun, Young finds it difficult to believe that this impression could be given.
"He wasn't even holding it like a gun."
Ellyn Sylvia, a York student, saw police and York security march past her to the bookstore.
Young believed that Boadi's actions were not criminal, adding that the only thing that might have provoked anyone was that "he seemed to stray a bit from the point."
Saada Awaleh-God, vice-president of media relations for the York University Black Students Association (YUBSA), suggested that the police responded with unwarranted force.
"He wasn't causing any harm. The amount of force put on him was not necessary. Ten officers for one man is not necessary."
Young said.
"It took about eight or 10 cops to subdue him even though he was being completely peaceful," he exclaimed. "This huge parade of police officers coming to talk to this man who wasn't doing anything criminal."
Sylvia agreed that Boadi was not strugging when police and York security led him outside. "He was pretty docile," she stated.
Young also noted that during the incident, York Security blocked off a section of York Lanes from Indian Flavour to the bookstore.
"There were two security guards saying, �You can't walk past here.'"
When Young asked why, he said he was simply told, "You just can't."
Alex Bilyk, director of media relations at York, defended York Security's decision to involve the police and block off the area.
"Nobody wants to fool around when they think there's a weapon involved," he stated. "York Security took the measures they needed to take in order to allow the police to react to this case.
"If someone is causing a disturbance, and there is reason to believe a weapon may be involved, we'll take the necessary action to involve the police as soon as possible," continued Bilyk. Bilyk, however, suggested that students should be wary of possible police involvement when considering taking similar actions to Boadi's.
"Use your own head," he suggested. "In today's environment, people are all on edge and it's not an appropriate action."
Meanwhile, some students believe that the incident was provoked by the sexual assault campus alerts on campus.
The secretary of YUBSA, Yolanda Abrahams, suggested that the composite on the campus alert is not descriptive enough to be effective.
"The sketch looked very ambiguous. Any black male could fit that description," said Abrahams.
"Racial profiling still exists on campus," she continued.
Other students have suggested that the campus alert borders on issues of racial profiling and that they could have done without the composite photo.
"It's a hard call," said Tanja Joelsson, a York student, upon viewing the composite. "I think we don't need the picture; it doesn't give enough information."
Students around Tanja agreed, suggesting that the police composite was too general to be used as an investigative tool.
Professional opinions differ on the existence of racial profiling.
Thomas Lynch, a detective sergeant overseeing sexual assault crimes in the Toronto Police Sex Crimes Unit, believes that the process used in developing composite photos is highly scientific; however, he would not provide details.
"That's a long process that we use through our forensic identification people, and that's a process I'm not willing to discuss right now, but basically we use the victims' memory of her assailant to prepare a composite."
Lynch was quick to defend the process.
"We would never solely go prosecute on a composite. We would have other evidence too."
He continued, "We would use different kinds of identification for down the road, whether it be forensic or whether it be a photo of the actual suspect identified."
Letters:
| Wednesday, 17 January 2007 |
Dear Editor,
As I read the article by Carl Meyer "Any black male could fit that description," it really hit a nerve.
I was angered by the actions of Jon Boadi and the reactions by others around him. While Boadi can have all the freedom of speech he likes, it's the fact that it was based on ignorance that bothered me. You know what, there should be more police sketches out there on campus posted for everyone to see.
As a female student, I like having them there so I know what to look for if I'm walking by myself. And it was obviously not a form of racial profiling if the victim gave the description. So what if he's black? I know that if the suspect was a white male, no one would have anything to say about that. Would it be racial profiling then? Why do ethnic minorities get to call on racial profiling? That's racist.
I do not accept it when racial minorities pull out the race card at every stop.
Maybe the black community should put their efforts into figuring out why crime plagues their youth instead of causing unnecessary scenes of disturbance at York.
Boadi clearly has his definitions mixed up. The campus alert is not a form of racial profiling. That is the description the assaulted victim gave to the police �- it's what they saw- and to not alert other students of the dangers of this person is wrong.
So York, good job with the campus alerts. Keep them up and if there is anything else the student body should be aware of, post them up.
-Susan Macri
Allegations ludacrous
RE: "Any black male could fit that description," News, Jan 10, 2006
Dear Editor,
I was absolutely disgusted by the suggestions of York students that the composite sketch of the alleged perpetrator of the recent sexual assualts on campus was "ambiguous" and that we "could have done without the composite photo."
Are we to be so sensitive to racial profiling that we must not even issue composite sketches of alleged criminals for fear of offending certain communities? This is ludacrous. Furthermore, Tanja Joelson's suggestion that the composite photo did not "give enough information" is laughable at best. Is she inferring that all black males look alike? To me, the individual in the sketch looked like a very distinct human being, just as we all are. So much so, in fact, that two different women with whom I am personally aqquainted, recognized the suspect as someone who had frequented their neighbourhood before.
Get a grip people. Quit overdosing on political correctness and realize that there are lives that have been viciously affected here. By nitpicking and complaining about the composite sketch, we are ignoring the real victims of this situation.
Racial profiling is undoubtedly a serious and problematic issue. Let us not diminish its gravity by tossing it around in a completely inappropriate situation such as this.
-Britt Aharoni
