Canada, Media and Journalism, Minority Issues, Racism

Lawyer Magazine Opts For Full-Blown Racist Cover

And bizarrely, the magazine hasn't apologized for its cover despite the controversy it's sparked....

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Canadians are generally a friendly lot. At least, when they aren’t building anti-gay law schools or talking about their Stanley Cup drought (21 years and counting). So it was more than a little bit startling to see the latest cover from Canadian Lawyer magazine going all Birth of a Nation on us.

The prominent legal publication featured a cover story about the lack of diversity on the Canadian bench. Unfortunately, the cover image they used did a much better job demonstrating why there might be race problems in Canada. Great White North indeed.

And bizarrely, the magazine hasn’t apologized for its cover despite the controversy it’s sparked….

(Please note the UPDATE added below.)

Well, if that doesn’t put the “e” in RACEISM.TM What we have here is a white woman waiting for a bus or something, unaware that a menacing black man is staring at her from his solitary confinement. Actually, why is she waiting for a bus in prison? Nothing about this makes sense. Except that the magazine really wanted you to know how scary that black guy was.

A number of student groups at McGill had the same impression of the image because, well, there aren’t many different ways to take it:

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We are writing to you on behalf of the undersigned parties to express dismay at the choice of cover for the most recent issue of Canadian Lawyer magazine. While we appreciate the attention called to the need to increase the proportion of women and visible minorities on the bench, we question why the stylized cover portrays an apparently incarcerated black man glaring at a white woman. This cover is troublesome as it reinforces existing negative stereotypes about visible minorities, women and criminality, and thereby affects how the important issue of diversity on the bench is framed and discussed. Such stereotyping is frustrating when expressed in media, but downright hurtful and unbecoming when propagated by our peers.

This is so much more elegant than my initial reaction, which was a spit take followed by putting the That’s Racist kid on a loop. And in case someone was inclined to argue that the guy leering out of the prison cell isn’t necessarily black, that’s a non-starter because the artist admitted that he chose to draw a black man and that the magazine never conveyed any issues with his choice.

Canadian Lawyer responded to the controversy with a tepid non-apology apology. You know, one of those “we’re sorry you’re upset” statements instead of a “we’re sorry we did something to make you upset” statements. Amazingly, they offer their explanation of what the image is supposed to depict and imply that anyone who sees differently is overreacting.

The intent of the cover was to illustrate a woman waiting and having to bide her time trying to figure out the password or key to get through a locked door, consistent with the theme of the article. The figure behind the door with a speakeasy-type slider is in the shadows, representing the gatekeeper of the establishment/old order looking askew at this person trying to break the code and get into the private club (ie: the bench).

Oh. But, see, that’s still awful. Even if we accept that the point of this image was to show a bouncer keeping women out, they opted to have a story about diversity where the only black face was the bouncer. Presumably, since this is an article about diversity, the black face is not actually the “establishment/old order,” but rather some employee of them. The woman might make it to the promised land, while the black dude is just working the door. Moreover, the woman seems entirely disinterested in this “club”; far from “trying to figure out the password,” she’s just obliviously looking at her watch. And wouldn’t a velvet rope be much more indicative of an exclusive club than a prison cell thing? If this is the magazine’s intent then it used the least illustrative image ever.

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Two of the authors of the original letter recognized this as kind of a complete cop out by Canadian Lawyer and penned a follow-up calling them out:

We are troubled by the fact that your recent response is a non-apology that seeks to ignore our real concerns by stipulating that such concerns are the result of a “misinterpretation”. Such a response demonstrates to us a troubling lack of regard for a significant portion of your readership that took the time and effort to bring this issue to your attention. It also demonstrates a lack of concern for the issue of diversifying the judiciary with respect to visible minorities who make up an even less significant portion of judges than women. Regardless of your intent, your actions have left us with a troubling caricature of a black man as a symbol of the “old boys” network that acts to keep women off the bench – a symbol that is in contradiction to reality since black men make up a very small percentage of judges in Canada. Both the troubling and factually incorrect aspects of the image leaves us wondering about the extent of your magazine’s commitment to diversify the bench in regards to visible minorities and women.

Since then there’s been no word from Canadian Lawyer. Hopefully they’re busy writing a genuine apology, but I’m not counting on it. They’re probably really busy putting the finishing touches on next month’s cover about the legal struggles of First Nations featuring a shirtless man in war paint riding a bear through an explosion brandishing the scalp of a law firm partner.

UPDATE (10/4/2014, 9:22 a.m.): The Canadian Lawyer has issued a full apology and removed the image from the online presence of the September issue. The full statement is available here.

The full letter from the McGill groups, Canadian Lawyer’s response, and the follow-up it inspired are all available in full on the next page….

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