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The Impact of Mainstream Media Portrayal of African Canadian Male Criminal Participation on the African Canadian Community

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The Impact of Mainstream Media Portrayal of African Canadian Male Criminal Participation on the African Canadian Community University of Windsor Scholarship at UWindsor Electronic Theses and Dissertations Theses, Dissertations, and Major Papers 2005 Guilty by association: The impact of mainstream media portrayal of African Canadian male criminal participation on the African Canadian community. Phyllis A. Kumi University of Windsor Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/etd Recommended Citation Kumi, Phyllis A., "Guilty by association: The impact of mainstream media portrayal of African Canadian male criminal participation on the African Canadian community." (2005). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2258. https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/etd/2258 This online database contains the full-text of PhD dissertations and Masters’ theses of University of Windsor students from 1954 forward. These documents are made available for personal study and research purposes only, in accordance with the Canadian Copyright Act and the Creative Commons license—CC BY-NC-ND (Attribution, Non-Commercial, No Derivative Works). Under this license, works must always be attributed to the copyright holder (original author), cannot be used for any commercial purposes, and may not be altered. Any other use would require the permission of the copyright holder. Students may inquire about withdrawing their dissertation and/or thesis from this database. For additional inquiries, please contact the repository administrator via email ([email protected]) or by telephone at 519-253-3000ext. 3208. GUILTY BY ASSOCIATION: THE IMPACT OF MAINSTREAM MEDIA PORTRAYAL OF AFRICAN CANADIAN MALE CRIMINAL PARTICIPATION ON THE AFRICAN CANADIAN COMMUNITY by Phyllis A. Kumi A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research through Sociology and Anthropology in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts at the University of Windsor Windsor, Ontario, Canada 2005 © 2005 Phyllis A. Kumi Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Library and Bibliotheque et 1*1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 0-494-09857-0 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 0-494-09857-0 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non­ sur support microforme, papier, electronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privee, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont ete enleves de cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. i * i Canada Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. jo ABSTRACT This study examines the effects of media produced constructions of Black masculinity and crime on Toronto’s diverse African communities. Nineteen individuals, living in the areas of Downtown Toronto, Etobicoke, North York, Scarborough and East York, were interviewed about their experiences with the racialization of crime in the print and visual media. Interview discussions revolved around the welcome of immigrants of African descent, depictions of Black males, media coverage of crime according to the ethnicity of the assailant and victim and parental concerns of how their children are viewed by society. A second group of issues discussed is intra-group conflict and confidence in the Canadian criminal justice system. The final group of issues discussed is the deportation of Black male immigrants and racial profiling. Participants demonstrated beliefs that their lives had been negatively affected by this phenomenon. Lack of concern about depictions of Black men and the internalization of images by Black children and adults, were cited as struggles. Participants also admitted to intragroup conflict as a result of depictions of Jamaicans as well as lack of confidence in the criminal justice system. Finally, respondents expressed beliefs that deportations disproportionately affect Black individuals and that racial profiling is a prevalent problem. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. DEDICATION To My Mother Whose love and support have shown no boundaries This is for you. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank everyone I have ever met in my life. Seriously, I am extremely appreciative of the six years that I have spent as a student with the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. My daily ritual of walking through the halls of the Sociology department was made enjoyable by the friendly nature of the faculty and staff who were there. Dr. Subhas Ramcharan, my advisor, thank you for having enough faith in me to agree to supervise my project. Dr. Daniel O’Connor, I am grateful for your support in helping with the articulation of my ideas as well as your fantastic ability for detail. Dr. Benedicta Egbo, thanks for your words of encouragement as well as your constructive criticism. To the many colleagues who I had the pleasure of greeting everyday, commiserating with, laughing and sharing with, you proved that school is not just about books. Thanks to all those who made academia fun. Thanks to Graduate Secretary Extraordinaire, Andria Turner, for all her enthusiasm, helpfulness and encouragement. I would like to thank all the participants who provided their time and opinions which helped to bring this project to fruition. Also, thank you to all my informants whose contacts helped this project along. Finally, thank you to my friends and family whose excitement and encouragement have helped me along this long, but important journey. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT iii DEDICATION iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS V INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 1 THEORETICAL ORIENTATION 5 CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE 21 CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY 36 CHAPTER IV ..........BIENVENUE AU CANADA? 48 CHAPTER V .......... RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES 63 CHAPTER VI...A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS 87 CHAPTER VII ANXIETY 111 CHAPTER VIII TO SERVE AND PROTECT WHOM? 142 CHAPTER Vllll DISCUSSION 159 CHAPTER X CONCLUSION 177 APPENDIX A: CONSENT TO PARTICIPATE IN RESEARCH 183 APPENDIX B: DEMOGRAPHIC QUESTIONNAIRE 186 APPENDIX C: INTERVIEW SCHEDULE 187 APPENDIX D: CHARTS 189 APPENDIX E: CONTACT ORGANIZATIONS 190 REFERENCES 191 VITA AUCTORIS 200 vi Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. INTRODUCTION Defined as an act that violates the law, crime evokes a multitude of emotions, including feelings of fear, uneasiness and nervousness among citizens and politicians. Bemoaned as a societal ill, remedies, such as denunciation and incarceration, are applied to offset and/or eliminate the serious afflictions said to arise from these behaviours. Those who engage in criminal activities rarely escape the scrutiny of their actions. Shame and stigma surround both the perpetrator and his or her behaviour. Though these condemnations may indicate society’s abhorrence of criminal violations, they are also indicative of the social construction of crime and criminals. Media sources, both print and visual, depict certain members of the population as more deviant than others. The African Canadian community has been the hardest hit over these depictions. Specifically, Black1 masculinity has been defined as inherently criminal. Crime is a “people” problem but is often constructed as a “Black” problem. It is important to note that some Black males do commit crimes; however, it is the extrapolation of the actions of a few that demonizes the entire Black community. This racialization of crime and the criminalization of the African Canadian community are both pervasive and detrimental. 1 The terms Black and African Canadian are used interchangeably to denote those who are of African descent whether they are African born or a member of those in the diaspora. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The problem is further
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