{"id":113833,"date":"2025-05-20T18:09:54","date_gmt":"2025-05-20T22:09:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sayaspora.com\/profilage-racial-quand-ton-visage-devient-une-cible-2-2\/"},"modified":"2025-12-09T16:37:50","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T21:37:50","slug":"racial-profiling-when-your-face-becomes-a-target","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sayaspora.com\/en\/racial-profiling-when-your-face-becomes-a-target\/","title":{"rendered":"Racial profiling: when your face becomes a target"},"content":{"rendered":"

You know that strange, heavy feeling when someone asks for your papers for no apparent reason? When you look around and realize that no one else is being checked? When your heart beats a little faster, not because you’ve done anything wrong, but because you know exactly why it happened to you?<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

We know that feeling all too well. That’s often what racial profiling is. And if you’ve ever wondered if it’s all in your head\u2026 know that it’s not. You’re not crazy. You’re not alone. And you’re not exaggerating. This type of discrimination, as insidious as it is violent, is a reality experienced by many of us.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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And if you’re wondering if this kind of thing “really happens,” let’s talk about Mamadi Camara. In January 2021, this Black doctoral student was wrongfully arrested in Montreal for allegedly assaulting a police officer. He spent six days in detention, despite being completely innocent. During that time, his reputation was tarnished, his loved ones worried, and his life turned upside down.<\/p>\n

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What was he accused of? Being there. Being Black. Being “in the wrong place at the wrong time.”<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This case shocked Quebec, but it is far from isolated. It simply received too much media attention to be ignored. And it reminds us how racial profiling is not an abstract concept.<\/span><\/p>\n

This case shocked Quebec, but it is far from isolated. It simply received too much media attention to be ignored. And it reminds us that racial profiling is not an abstract concept.<\/span> It’s a very real, sometimes tragic, form of violence.<\/p>\n

But what should you do if it happens to you? We’re not going to lie to you: there’s no magic bullet. You shouldn’t have to bear the burden of an unjust system. But you can protect yourself, in your own way. Stay calm, ask for the reason for the stop, note the details (time, place, badge number), and if possible, discreetly film.<\/p>\n

And above all, you can turn to solid resources designed to support you as a woman of color, a migrant woman, a North African woman, a Black woman. data-ccp-props=”{“134233117″:false,”134233118″:false,”335559738″:240,”335559739″:240}”><\/p>\n