photo credit Tim McDonagh, The Atlantic
Recent events haunt black communities like ghosts from the past; a past that people like to think of as a violent era long gone— yet we have the tragic deaths of people like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Antwon Rose, Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, and countless others. Their forebearers are people like Emmett Till. Whatever you might think of it all, one thing is certain: these recent deaths are not “accidents” — they hark back to the history of the founding of the country and the collective memory of enslavement.
Local History and Biography
Many of you have grown up with fixed ideas about race one way or another; you’ve developed racialized understandings that operate like intellectual short cuts about social problems based on your social location (residence/neighborhood, family, friends, school) with clear-cut understandings of who is poor, who is dangerous, and who is a good person. Terms like “welfare,” “affirmative action” and “food stamps were your bêtes noirs (meaning: things people dislike). Other concepts like institutional racism, structural poverty, neighborhood redlining, and the “poverty tax” were not nearly as familiar.
Life experiences are also different. You’ve grown up in different neighborhoods, many of which have been racially & spatially segregated, which means opportunities for social contact have been limited. This, in turn, creates a situation where people rely on media depictions and imagery to tell them stories about people that they don’t know.
Consequently, you might find yourself wondering: how it is that someone might be confined for months in jail for only misdemeanor offenses? Why don’t people simply follow the police officers’ instructions (to prevent them from being executed)? You might also find it also strange that someone who is innocent might get pulled over for “looking like the suspect” or for “race out of place” – both of these situations arise out of the condition of being a black body in a white neighborhood and/or “driving while black.”
Discussions about voter rules continue to be a hot topic. You’ve probably wondered: “How are there adults in the U.S. who have no ID? And no bank accounts? Who are these people? How do they vote? How do they live? What planet are they on?
It may strike you as hyperbole to say that the United States uses deadly violence, domestically as well as abroad, to discipline, control, and kill black bodies – but it’s not.
Blackness and Physical Power
Narratives that describe the athletic prowess of tennis’s Williams sisters tends to focus on them “overwhelming'” and “destroying” their female opponents. In doing so, they call upon enduring stereotypes of the ‘dangerous’ black body and the ‘strong black woman,'” Serena, in particular, has been described as “pummeling,” “overwhelming,” and “overpowering” vis a vis her (apparently frail and powerless) white female opponents.”
It’s true that sports metaphors include reverences to violence – “crushed,” “killed,” and “destroyed” aren’t unusual words to hear when describing wins. But descriptions of Serena’s power and the strength behind her victories have taken this type of hyperbole to another level — one that suggests she’s absolutely unparalleled in her strength and capacity for violence, especially as compared with her white opponents.
Writing for Rolling Stone in 2013, Stephen Roderick observed, “Sharapova is tall, white and blond, and, because of that, makes more money in endorsements than Serena, who is black, beautiful and built like one of those monster trucks that crushes Volkswagens at sports arenas.”
Black male athletes, like LeBron James, are also often depicted as possessing a problematic excess of physicality.
These depictions of physical excess are not trivial matters; they find their roots in slavery. That they continue to circulate as fact in our contemporary society has enormous social repercussions.
Rewind to Ferguson, Missouri, and the officer who shot Michael Brown, Darren Wilson. When testifying in court, officer Wilson characterized him as being really “big” (Brown was actually only one inch shorter than Wilson, who is 6 feet four inches tall). Here are some excerpts from his testimony, where he justified using deadly force on Brown because his perceived physicality made him fear for his life:
“I see [Brown and Dorian Johnson] walking down the middle of the street. And the first thing that struck me was, they’re walking down the middle of the street … And the next thing I noticed was the size of the individuals, because either the first one was really small or the second one was really big.”
“I tried to hold his right arm and use my left hand to get out to have some type of control and not be trapped in my car any more,” Wilson said. “And when I grabbed him, the only way I can describe it is I felt like a five-year-old holding on to Hulk Hogan.”
“He (Brown) looked up at me, and had the most intense, aggressive face. The only way I can describe it – it looks like a demon. That’s how angry he looked.”
“At this point it looked like he was almost bulking up to run through the shots, like it was making him mad that I’m shooting at him … And the face that he had was looking straight through me, like I wasn’t even there, I wasn’t even anything in his way.”
Links Between Slavery and Law Enforcement
John Matteson, Distinguished Professor of English at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City, believes that the violence exhibited today is contextually linked to slavery and has become part of the culture over time.
In an interview with The Root magazine, Matteson explained “Slavery was a form of privatized law enforcement.” “What it did was take a number of the powers that are typically reserved to the government—the power to discipline … the power over another person’s life—and it conferred those powers on private individuals. And there’s this continuing undercurrent in particularly Southern culture where there’s a reluctance to get the government involved if you can avoid it, because there’s just a sort of general distrust of centralized authority” (Edwards, 2014).
According to Matteson “What we have here is a legacy from slavery that the assumption was, a black person is controlled through violence, not through the application of law or reason” (Edwards, 2014).
The sort of argument that runs in people’s minds between violence and the maintenance of order is ingrained not only on a societal level but also on a family level,” Matteson explained. Children often become acculturated to violence through beatings during their upbringing; on some level then, children may learn “to associate discipline with violence and order and the proper order of things, with the application of violence from a stronger person to a weaker” (Edwards, 2014)
To this end, Matteson continues, “I would suspect also that when you find a violent cop, or somebody who’s excited about the prospect of vigilante justice, I would guess … that you’re going to find that those abusive cops and the gun-toting nuts are very often people who themselves have experienced abuse” (Edwards, 2014).
“Because abuse, as we know, is something that replicates itself from generation to generation,” he continued, “and if people start their lives by viewing everything through a lens of violence, it’s going to turn up in racial violence, but it’s also going to turn up in domestic violence. It’s going to turn up in the dysfunction of the individual human being in a myriad of ways.” (Edwards, 2014).
Visual Iconography
Visual depictions of black bodies being brutalized have become de rigueur. Telling stories through the depictions of bodies can, however, be positive as well as negative.
More recently, with the advent of social media, people have used images of bodies as a way to reclaim their power, where the body is shown to be a site of empowerment.
If you were to tell a story about your body or any body, how might you use visual imagery to do so? What are some examples of visual imagery that make a statement about body power?
Here’s an example:
Queen of the Court: Serena Williams – Singles Tennis Number 1 Ranked Woman in the World, 2002; doubles, 2010.
Matters of the Intimate/Matters of State
The female body and the raced body are, more than others, the targets of organized state-sanctioned violence. The question is why?
Discussion
How are the violent structures/institutions of the state implicated in regulating the domains of body as well as the intimate (including sexuality)?
How are the prison and the barracks similarly involved in the enterprise of regulating intimate body relations through violence?
Why/how do states find is it productive to regulate bodies using different practices, many of which involve state-sanctioned violence? How is race, class, and gender used as a means to determine which bodies should be regulated? Why is so much effort put into doing this?
Sources & Additional Reading
Coates, Ta Nehesi Coates, excerpt from “Between The World and Me: Letter to My Son.” The Atlantic, July 4, 2015.
Du Rocher, Kristina. Raising Racists: The Socialization of White Children in the Jim Crow South. Lexington, Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky, 2011. 248 pp.
Edwards, Breanna. From Slavery to Ferguson: America’s History of Violence Towards Blacks. The Root, September 27, 2014.
Gordon, Lewis R. Bad Faith and Antiblack Racism. Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey: Humanities Press, 1995. 222 pp.
Reger Zach and Lauren Steele. Politics of the Black Body Series Explores Questions About Media and Visual Representation, 2014.
It’s surprising how the article highlights the harsh, especially those of color, who are criticized unfairly. Instead of being seen as role models, stars like LeBron James and Serena Williams are made to seem threatening. Their strong physical presence is often seen as too much, but when athletes from other races show the same strength, it’s just called good sportsmanship. In the image of LeBron’s photo in Vogue he’s posed next to a white woman, but what stands out is how they make him look physically, violent, and aggressive look, while the model beside him appears calm, almost trapped by his presence. This makes him seem more intimidating. Similarly, when a black person makes it onto the cover of a major magazine, it’s often because they are either a huge figure in their field or their appearance fits certain stereotypes. In the case of Serena Williams, she’s shown in a powerful pose that gives the impression she’s someone you should avoid. These images only reinforce old stereotypes that have kept black people for so long. This is not the right way to treat people. This is an issue that needs to be addressed right away not just in sports but throughout the world.
The prison and the barracks similarly involve in the enterprise of regulating intimate body relations through violence. This can be seen through a strict certain set of regulations and threats of violence. In both places, physical and psychological violence are used to enforce power, maintain discipline, and control bodies of people who are within those facilities. Prisons and the barracks are similar when it comes to discipline. Prisons often have mechanisms that allow people to be taken control of in areas such as being isolated and strict daily routines. The barracks are similar to the prison because they also have rigorous routines and discipline through drills and inspections. Another way prisons and the barracks are similar of involving intimate body relations through violence is by masculinity and/or gender. In prison, there are cases where people’s dominance can develop and have a sense of control over another person. Similar to the barracks, toughness is linked to having control over another person. This both can lead to violence in the barracks and especially in the prisons.
After reading this article, the stereotypes that people are given are very disturbing. The long history of violence against African Americans and people of color still continues to this day. In prison and military barracks, there is barely any self freedom. Those areas are more of places where your every move is controlled and are disciplined brutally if you go against your orders. It is even worse for POC (people of color), as they can already be discriminated against by their race, class and/or gender.
The states use violence in a way to maintain power over people and they use race, gender and class to determine which bodies are deemed threatening and a threat to their authority.It is also a way to make it seem like cops are not just arresting due to race or gender. This effort to regulate bodies is all about maintaining power and control and is also a way for the state to assert dominance and enforce social norms. All the issues that black bodies face, even athletes such as LeBron James and Serena Williams was very surprising for me to read because the difference of how they get described and treated is different than how other white athletes get treated. Tennis Star, Serena Williams gets sports metaphors that refer to her as “the ‘dangerous’ black body and the ‘strong black woman” which is not very endearing and Basketball player LeBron James gets depicted as a “problematic excess of physicality.” It really gives a perspective of how people view these athletes in comparison to others such as Williams to Sharpanova who was said to be “tall, white, blond and receives more endorsements” to Serena who was called “built like one of those monster trucks that crushes Volkswagens.” These structures seem very abstract but still occur and impact in daily lives.
After reading this article, it is really shocking to read that athletes of color have a stigma surrounding them that they will not make as much money from endorsements as their white counterparts. Granted all athlete’s physical appearance plays a part in their endorsements, you would not think that their skin color is part of that. The players being endorsed are where they are at because of their popularity and their ability to perform. And you would think that someone who is the top in their sport would make the most in endorsements because of how well they perform. Yet athletes like Serena Williams, who is part of the very top in her sport, are portrayed as ‘crushing, killing, and dominating’. Portraying her in a bad image because of the wording being used. And due to the fact that she is extremely talented and has numerous wins to her name, those types of descriptions get taken to a whole other level because she is colored. The way she is portrayed in the media stops her from making the money she should be making because the media finds her physicality and skill to be a threat compared to her white opponents, who are portrayed as weak and frail, in the eyes of the media.
There were multiple points brought up during the article that caught my attention. Initially, the first thing that made me stop and think was the example of how officers will stop members of other ethnicities that are not white from sticking out in white neighborhoods This “race out of place” style of policing is just an excuse for officers to stop and harass certain members of other ethnicities, and in the officers mind hopefully find something illegal to justify the stop. The reason I believe why the officers feel a need to do this is because they feel threatened by members of our society who are black or another race. This cycle feeds into itself as when these officers treat black Americans with disrespect and unequally, it makes that demographic of people not respect and therefore listen to officers. Which is when they lose control of the situation and begin fearing the hostility from the suspect, and then due to the fear the officers tend to act irrationally by using an excessive amount of force.
I did not realize that African American athletes such as Lebron James and Serena Williams who were defined as possessing a problematic excess of physicality or seemed too violent and overpowered their white competition. When the article talked about how Serena tends to focus on overwhelming and destroy her opponents I really didn’t understand why they were making a big deal out of this. As an athlete myself its good to have the drive and mentality to defeat your opponents and there is nothing wrong with trying to destroy your opponents. The article also talks about how Serena has been described as overwhelming and overpowering her white female opponents. But I think they are using race to justify the reason why they lost. But race has nothing to do with it, Serena is just the better athlete in the match. Depicting these athletes as dangerous just because of the color of their skin and their athletic abilities is wrong and something needs to be done about it.
I believe this the answer to the first question is fear. Seeing a black person who is powerful, especially of color, gives people and particularly police officers a sense of fear. As mentioned in your research in the Ferguson Missouri case, the officer who testified in the shooting of Michael Brown, he described him as big and powerful, ultimately leading to the fatal shooting. But what if this person was white and powerful? Not sure the same result happens. The depictions of someone’s physical appearance in general relates all the way back to slavery, as we have over time adopted to treat people of color a certain way, especially when we see people of color come off as powerful such as icons like Lebron James or Serena Williams.
When comparing Serena Williams and for example, another tennis star, Sharapova, Serena was described as powerful, and built like a monster truck, while Sharapova, also a powerful force in the sport, was described much differently, as being tall blonde and white. The depictions of the 2 bring to light just how much different the world looks at these 2, as these words can lead to one being more appealing (Sharapova) while the other being more feared (Williams). This relates to the body relations through violence because it is engraved into our brains that one is way less dangerous than the other by the way they are being described. Violence, particularly in police brutality, they run with this narrative that people that are seemingly more powerful or dangerous from just the way they look, must be more dangerous in real life. Obviously this isn’t the case, and we must be fair when describing not just athletes, but people in general, when it deals with the color of their skin.
The media in today’s society has brutally used black bodies to ruin culture and portraying violence. You can see this beginning with Serena Williams where when she wins, she is described with violent words. An example of this is using words like “killing” and “crushing” her white opponents. This is making the reader, the media, and society associate black athletes with violence, which belittles and ruins the look for black culture. Racism in the media is very dangerous and when portraying this racism to large numbers of people is dangerous. Also, showing athletes as having a problematic amount of physical strength is a problem of its own. Making these black athletes seem like they are dangerous for how athletic they are is a shame especially because of how gifted they are, instead of seeing praise they are being seen as ‘monsters’, like you can see in the Lebron James magazine article.
The article really drives home the idea that the violence we see today, like the tragic cases of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, isn’t just some historical issue; it’s deeply tied to America’s past. The state uses institutions like the police to control and regulate Black lives, often through brutal means. This isn’t just about crime; it dives into personal relationships and everyday interactions, affecting how people feel safe or unsafe in their own neighborhoods.
Both prisons and military barracks focus on maintaining control through strict rules and sometimes physical force. Violence was used as a means of maintaining control over individuals during the period of slavery. Incarceration in prisons can result in loss of freedoms, while military environments enforce strict discipline that may reinforce negative beliefs about masculinity and aggression. Both locations demonstrate how the ongoing impact of control and oppression influences lives in the present day.
States utilize violence as a successful strategy to manage citizens in order to maintain authority. The article emphasizes that historical oppression contributes to racial stereotypes, like viewing Black individuals as dangerous. Race, class, and gender are key factors in deciding who is unfairly targeted; this is not a matter of chance. By controlling certain groups, the government can uphold existing power structures and prevent major challenges to their authority
I was shocked to learn about the issues faced by athletes like Serena Williams, who are often seen as incredibly strong and even violent compared to their white opponents. Similarly, athletes like LeBron James are portrayed with an emphasis on their physicality which feels unfair. These stereotypes are harmful and contribute to negative views of African Americans. For example, white athletes often make more money in endorsement deals just because of their appearance, which shows a big gap in how Black athletes are valued. The violent structures of the state also regulate bodies, especially those that are raced and gendered, through state-sanctioned violence that controls personal relationships and keeps social order. Prisons and military barracks show how violence can be a way to discipline people, creating situations where abuse becomes common. This regulation is shaped by race, class, and gender, affecting which bodies are scrutinized and targeted. The policing of Black bodies, for instance, relies on stereotypes that depict them as dangerous, which justifies harsh treatment. States seem to use violence to maintain control, reinforcing their power and instilling fear, a practice rooted in the legacy of slavery that expects compliance from marginalized individuals. Those patterns keep happening every year, and people always overlook them and disregard this significant issue surrounding body types within the black community.
How are violent structures of the state involved in controlling bodies and intimacy?
The state has a history of using violence to control black bodies, from slavery to modern policing. This control didn’t stop with slavery; today, it’s seen in how the criminal justice system treats black people. According to Matteson, the idea that certain bodies, especially black ones, need to be controlled by force continues into intimate areas of life, not just public spaces.
How do prisons and military barracks control intimate body relations through violence?
Prisons and military barracks are places where people’s bodies are controlled through strict discipline and the threat of violence. These institutions limit personal freedoms and enforce social hierarchies, especially for black and brown people. High incarceration rates for people of color, often for minor crimes, show how controlling their bodies has become normalized.
Why do states use violence to control bodies, especially marginalized ones?
States use violence to control bodies as a way to keep social order and maintain power. Race, class, and gender determine which groups face the most control. For example, police violence against black people and the portrayal of black athletes as physically dangerous are rooted in slavery. These practices reinforce stereotypes and social hierarchies, allowing the state to maintain control over marginalized groups.
Police departments or law enforcement agencies in particular tend to act violently towards certain groups of people. They also cause people to be afraid of them which prevents people from properly expressing themselves. You can also say that people seeking medical attention could be treated differently depending on what a citizen’s body and identity is. Both the prison and barracks are involved because jails are typically separated between men and woman so that they are not harming or being intimate with each other. Race is used a lot to justify regulating bodies because the state does not want it to look like cops are just arresting people for their race. The same argument could be used for gender or class. The states do not want the data to look like cops are just arresting people for what their gender is or how wealthy a person may or may not be. States are trying to move past a time where cops were created for runaway slaves during the civil war which focused all of their time on African Americans. It is just sad that there are different people who tend to be associated with certain beliefs or practices and that’s where the judgement from the state comes from.
While going over this article it is crazy to think how true it is when it comes to how you viewed certain people and because of what you had and knew you built stereotypes for those people. Whether it is when you think of the “hood” you think of guns violence drugs or welfare. With those social stereotypes, you may not connect with a certain race and can withdraw from going to a certain place or communicating with certain people. It is upsetting to see one race not connecting with another because of their social norms and what they grew up knowing. Being from a mostly dominant white school here in Pittsburgh. I know for a fact this goes on so much where I’m from and is terrible to see. There is a spot known as the “hood” here and I hear people make comments all the time driving past even my own friends. Just because they grew up on the other side of town with bigger houses and no one walking across the street to the laundry matt to wash their clothes. Just from those people’s mindsets they form a bigger picture and paint them as bad people making them more prone to being targets. Being a different race in a majority one-race community is unimaginably tough and American culture needs to get out of these things and paint the bigger picture.
After reading the article, something that stood out to me were the harsh and egregious comments placed on the most dominant athletes of our time, especially those of color. Instead of making these familiar faces, such as LeBron James and Serena Williams mentioned in the article, look like inspirations in the eyes of us viewers, they make these individuals seem like a threat. It stands out to me that their excess use of physicality poses as overpowering and threatful, but if a male or female of another race were to do the same it is seen as “sportsmanship”. People of color have been constantly downgraded or shamed in the eyes of our society to where it still feels like we are undergoing something that should’ve ended centuries ago. It feels as if no matter how much we try and bring up our culture, there will always be those who enjoy seeing us fall. I really liked how this article compared this type of ideal to policing. It is no surprise to see that people of color are always taken seriously in the eyes of the law. It is unbelievable that the perception placed on them is as if they are menaces to society when they are just living their life like everyone else. I agree with this article in calling this a “new form of slavery”.
It is startling to witness super star athletes being belittled for their physique using hyperboles. After reading and analyzing this article, it becomes clear that hyperboles are being used to describe athletes as “overpowering” and “destroying” as well as perpetuating stereotypes about “the hazardous black body” or “the violent black women.” These portrayals of athletes as having a problematic excess of physicality have been addressed by two athletes. Serena Williams is referred to as “overpowering” and “pummeling.” When someone is described in this way, stereotypes of danger are formed about them. Yes, metaphors like “crushed” or “killed” are used to describe Serena’s victories over her opponents, but these statements about Serena’s strength and power indicate that she has the potential for violence. LeBron James is another athlete who has had to cope with exaggerations about his physicality. LeBron James is compared to a gorilla on the cover of Vogue. Although he is stronger, taller, and more muscular, the comparison serves as a warning to the public that James is violent and likely to injure others physically. The correlation made here is wrongful and spreads a misleading perception of these players, who aren’t at all as violent as they are portrayed to be. There needs to be a change because the media has allowed for the normalization of graphic depictions of black bodies being brutalized in our culture.
It is distressing to observe that powerful athletes of many races are employed by the state as violent structures, with reference to their intimates and bodies. One thing that particularly stood out to me was how Serena Williams is frequently portrayed as having a problematic excess of physicality. Serena Williams is the target of exaggerations; she is said to as “overpowering” and “destroys” her opponents. Particularly Serena has been called powerful, pummeled, and overwhelming. Serena is a very good tennis player, but her claims of strength and power are exaggerated, especially when she plays white opponents. According to a Rolling Stones story, Sharapova is tall, white, and blond and earns more money from endorsements than Serena because of this. Serena is described as being black, beautiful, and built like one of those monster trucks that crush Volkswagens at sporting events. I believe it was wrong that this was published. Serena’s physicality is compared to Sharapova looks. They claim that someone earns more money simply because they are considered to be “attractive,” but Serena is also beautiful, successful, a wonderful athlete, and strong; they only chose to highlight her physical attributes. Bringing up these violent stereotypes makes clear how detrimental the excess physique clichés are for black athletes. We need to address this issue and stop making these athletes feel uncomfortable in their own bodies in order to prevent it from happening again.
Many of us grow up with made up ideals about racial disparities. Depending on where you’re from you have these racist thoughts. For example when you think of black and the projects, food stamps, and guns and violence comes to mind. The way you are brought up into the world plays a major factor in outcome. Social economics, environment also does too. Most children that are born around wealth they are a sense of detached from the real life in a way. Not having that chemistry with a different racial group can be hard. The way you talk and live are astronomically different in so many ways. Policing for example. Most stigmas when it comes to gangs, gun violence, and drugs blacks are always the ones being profiled. But at the same time statistics shown day in and day out this activity is evenly distributed with races. Being pulled over should not be something that worries you, you shouldn’t have to take a double take on if you’ll see your family again. Several different factors are different in everyone’s lives. Being a black body in a white community can be seen as suspect. Someone is literally just living their life and can be accused of little things or even fit in to the “suspect” category. Policing of the black bodies can be critical in both aspects. However, policing can take control of the black community. Several other aspects play a role on the crack down in petty crimes and high incarceration rates among minority groups.
Many of us grow up with made up ideals about racial disparities. Depending on where you’re from you have these racist thoughts. For example when you think of black and the projects, food stamps, and guns and violence comes to mind. The way you are brought up into the world plays a major factor in outcome. Social economics, environment also does too. Most children that are born around wealth they are a sense of detached from the real life in a way. Not having that chemistry with a different racial group can be hard. The way you talk and live are astronomically different in so many ways. Policing for example. Most stigmas when it comes to gangs, gun violence, and drugs blacks are always the ones being profiled. But at the same time statistics shown day in and day out this activity is evenly distributed with races. Being pulled over should not be something that worries you, you shouldn’t have to take a double take on if you’ll see your family again. Several different factors are different in everyone’s lives. Being a black body in a white community can be seen as suspect. Someone is literally just living their life and can be accused of little things or even fit in to the “suspect” category. Policing of the black bodies can be critical in both aspects.
While reading and analyzing this article it is astonishing to read just how excessive force is used on black individuals and others in a minority. The correlation that was made about slavery and law enforcement is true in many different ways because it is that just in different forms. People can have different thoughts and topics on things in life but it should never have you treating someone of color different just because of the color of their skin. That is where it gets out of hand. I agree with that many of us were grown up with fixed ideas of race in our head and that’s how we understand it. We all grow up so differently and have different situations that occur that make us who we are and how we think. People of color are proven five times more likely to get charged over a white male, that is what needs changed.The Vogue cover of Lebron is just insane to me with the correlation of the gorilla, just because they are muscular and in shape does not mean that they will conduct physical harm to others. This depiction is what is wrong with male black atheltes, why do we not just give credit where credit is due, that type of physique if hard to obtain.
The biggest problem that can be encountered is the fact that many people who are not used to being around black people base their opinions on what they hear or see in the media. Especially since the purpose of the media is to sell more so making people look a specific way is something that benefits them. So it doesn’t surprise me that they use the image of black people to make them look like aggressive or violent people. Lebron’s image in Vogue is but one example of this because you see him posing next to a white girl and the most that stands out is that they make him look like a specimen. He has a posture and a facial expression that makes him look like a violent person while the model he is with is a white girl who looks calm trapped between his body. This makes him look more imposing and even makes him look a bit scary. On the other hand, I think it is important to point out that for a black person to make it to the cover of big magazines they have to be people who are either big in the industry or who can use their physique to support the stereotypes which can be seen in the photo of Serena Williams. They portrayed her in a strong pose that when you see her you get the feeling that she is a person that if you see her you should even get out of her way. All this does is support the old stereotypes that have held black people captive for so long.
The state and federal institutions used to intimidate and stereotype the bodies of people, specifically that of the media, criminal justice system, and political institutions, are implicated such that they utilize historically authoritarian practices, policies, and patterns that restrict one’s autonomy. To elaborate, the use of force by criminal justice personnel, for example, directly inhibits the ability of the individual to act for themselves, and oftentimes is excessive in proportion to the actual threat one possesses, especially in the case of people of color. The overarching CJ system justifies this through its policies, ethos, and allowed discretion of its personnel and organizations, which stems from the government and traditionally authoritarian viewpoints towards the rule of law. It can further be argued that the media contributes to this through the sensationalism of crime and permeation of the need to limit the actions of “criminals” for the sake of “law and order”. Prisons and correctional institutions also play a role in restraining the body through violence, such that inmates are confined to incredibly small cells, inhumane treatment by guards if insubordinate, poor treatment by other inmates, and, at worse, solitary confinement. This inevitably traumatizes the subject of said treatment and may lead to future health deficiencies, both physical and mental, metaphorically and literally crippling their ability to live for themselves.
It can be argued that states find it “productive” to regulate bodies through the use of violence, because, through optics, it may appear that by limiting one’s action, we limit their ability to cause societal harm. Furthermore, when governmental institutions incentivize the use of violence through funding, it sends a message that violence is the desired result expected of law enforcement personnel. This is further evident when race, ethnicity, and gender are brought into context, as historically speaking, animosity towards those not of the societal “status quo” (i.e., straight white males) has been one of the prevailing issues in the CJ system. As we can see today, the violence and killings of black Americans are a primary example, especially when considering how they have always been the subject of hatred since the nation’s founding. Lastly, a noticeable effort is put into continuing this vicious cycle because of continued stereotypes, the lack of political will to address it, and because for many, it is a simple narrative to follow.
Policing the black body was a real eye opener for me, as it pointed to some thing I wasn’t aware of with athletes. The first problem that opened my eyes was the hyperboles used for Serena Williams suggesting she was unparalleled in her strength and capacity for violence especially compared to white opponents. Other athletes like Lebron James are being depicted because of problematic excess of physicality. The stereotypes being used are very violent and vulgar toward African American people. An example was is white people making more off endorsement deals just because of features and comparisons to those of African American people. We also see these problems in Law Enforcement with the Michael Brown case where the officer used browns size as an excuse and his facial expressions. The officer should have never been able to use Browns size as a defense in this case. The fact is not only with brutality, but with sports is this should not even be a problem that we should have to talk about. The color of your skin or your background or nothing should matter especially with playing a sport, if you are talented and good at what you do and are providing for your loved ones then someone’s skin color should not be used against them for that. This is a problem that we have always had and it is sad that even today we are still facing it and that we haven’t found a solution yet. This is something that needs to be fixed immediately and something that hopefully one day we see fixed not only in sports, but in the world in general.
The violent structures of the state are implicated in regulating the domains of the body as well as the intimate in a very dangerous way and have been for many years. The first thing that caught my attention in this reading was the hyperboles that have been used over the years to describe Serena Williams and all of her accomplishments throughout her career, and how aggressive these terms used are. The use of “overwhelming” and “destroying” when discussing her success against opponents most definitely highlight these dangerous stereotypes that are used aggressively towards black women in the media. Another point of racial stereotyping in the media that caught my attention was the vogue cover of Lebron James and Gisele; this picture also depicts the stereotypical message that black male athletes possess an alarming and problematic amount of physicality. These stereotypes that are represented not only in the media in the past but as we see, in the present still are very violent towards minorities, and can add to or evolve to a dangerous bias in these current and upcoming generations.
– This read is something that we should not even have to talk about because America should be this free and equal nation. But that could not be further from the truth and we do in fact need to talk about this because it is a major issue. One thing in this reading that I agreed with. Was how they related policing to kind of a slavery type thing. The way black people are treated it is almost like slavery in a different form. Now I totally understand the fact that everyone has biases in life and there is not one person in the entire world who does not have a bias. But as I have said before, if you are a professional. Biases should never get in the way of anything, especially when it comes to life and death like in this instance. People need to put behind whatever biases they have and treat and deal with people all the same way regardless of the color of your skin or your religion or anything like that. Black people have been so suppressed for so long and this just adds on. All the people mentioned in the beginning like Trevon Martin etc.. Should not have deserved what they got, which was killed. What is over is over. But this needs to change immediately not, next week or next month or next year but today.
The excessive use of force used on Black and minoritized individuals is extremely tragic. The telling of American society that Black individuals are animalistic and overly strong, like the Vogue cover with Lebron James, perpetuates the stereotype. Reading about the link between slavery and law enforcement, it reminds me of the movie “13th” that I think everyone should watch. It goes over the 13th amendment and how it is basically a loophole that allows for slavery. It claims that “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction”. If you have committed a crime, you have become a slave to the system. As we know, Black individuals are 5 times more likely than White individuals to be incarcerated, and therefore are subjected to being treated as a slave. I really like the mentioning of the use of violence and maintenance of order in this article. Even gender role ideologies perpetuate this with men being head of household, with loud and strong personalities to maintain its order. The same goes for law enforcement. Not only do their personalities have to be strong, but they do too. As the article says, they discipline with violence asserting their dominance on the weaker people. When reading articles like this, it’s easy to become annoyed or upset. What do we do with this information? In social justice courses you’ll learn this information over and over, but what now? I like the idea of Antiracism and being loudly in support of being antiracist. I also like voting. But what can we do in every day lives and how will we see a change?
Policing the Black body was a great read, and great at attempting to explain the importance of a Black person’s image. As I’ve said before in previous posts, when people are not used to being around Black people, they have nothing else to base their opinions off of other than what they see and hear in the media. This really hit home for me because I am going through something similar right now. Since I moved here a few years ago from Virginia, I’ve encountered A LOT of white people who are completely ignorant to their own racism. For example, I work at the YMCA. One day we were having a conversation about why a lot of Black people can’t swim. The director of Aquatics actually said that she was told it was because Black people have a greater muscle mass, which makes them sink. I couldn’t believe the amount of ignorance in that response. It’s just like how Serena Williams is referred to as “overpowering”. It’s almost as if people think our slave past somehow made us physically superior or as if they believe that our physicality makes us only good for labor. The fact that a police officer was able to use Mike Brown’s size as a reason to be scared for his life, is insane. These stereotypes are so dangerous, they are literally getting people killed. It’s just like the quarterback conversation. Not too long ago, it was said that Black men play every position in football except quarterback because they aren’t smart enough to mentally run the field. Or that Black women have a higher pain tolerance, so they don’t need any pain medication or as much anesthesia. It amazes me that these ideas are so deeply embedded in American culture that people actually believe it and it actually affects the way that they treat people.
A lot of what you are encountering here in Pittsburgh is generational ignorance compounded by some of the most enduring racial segregation that exists in the country. Low-levels of social contact made worse by sensationalistic media representations explains a lot too. That being said, people can and do have the ability to educate themselves out of these mindsets; however, the inertia of social forces tends toward “social reproduction” of the status quo. It takes quite a bit of effort and resolve to move beyond it all…and note that along the way in their efforts to consider alternative perspectives, such people risk their membership in their primary social groups/affiliates (i.e. friends & family), who are perfectly happy to continue living with regressive mindsets.
Many people still believe that black people get handouts in life like affirmative action. An Asian man thought it would be smart to team up with a conservative white man because he felt a black person was chosen over him just to discover the next year without affirmative action the Black population of Harvard went up and the Asian went down. The same thing with food snaps and welfare so many people assume that black Americans are the main recipients but white Americans account for most of the recipients 44.6 for welfare and 37 for food stamps they say uneducated things to insinuate that black people are all poor and need handouts they use micro-aggression and stereotypes to make it seem as if they are lesser then others. Many people also see black people as a threat, so many innocent people were murdered by the police because they used deadly force in instances where it was absolutely not needed the police murder people and will try to cover it up