Essay: Antiblackness

Antiblackness as a political structure began with the middle passage, separating black bodies from their past and rendering their flesh fungible. One of the major theories around the history of anti-black violence is that of social death, that there is no hope and never will be any hope for the black body. To simplify social death relies on three main concepts, natal alienation, or the separation of a people from their history, gratuitous violence, violence enacted without cause or repercussion, and general dishonor, the systematic dismissal of the black body (these arguments have been developed by numerous scholars with differences between their arguments but overall agreement on the exploitation of the black body, some of the most well know are Frank Wilderson, Orlando Patterson, Jared Sexton, Calvin Warren and many others).

 

Given this history there is no question that prisons are simply the continuation of this systematic destruction and exploitation of the black flesh. From slavery to sharecropping to Jim Crow, and now to prisons, black bodies have been exploited to further the creation of white America. This racism permeates American society and institutions. As the film stated there are more black folks in correctional control today than were under slavery in 1850. This correctional control exists as a way to further this exploitation and keep a supply of cheap labor available for exploitation.

In addition to this exploitation of free labor this institutional racism also has many detrimental effects on individuals and families. When people are sent to prison they are ripped away from their families, increasing the likelihood that this cycle of incarceration will continue. This racism means that many of the things that are promoted as solutions to some problem, ie crime, are in reality simply a way to further the oppression of the black body. It also means that proposed solutions to this problem of incarceration that do not address the foundational logic of anti-blackness that exists in American society and institutions will alway fail and simply recreate themselves in new insidious forms of control.

The impact of institutional racism is the violence that gets enacted onto certain bodies. This impacts individuals, families, and society. In fact there are very few options for how to escape this institutional racism that exists here in the United States. The war on drugs has been used to perpetuate this racism and control. It has killed thousands of people and incarcerated millions more for basically no effect on drugs or drug crimes.

In conclusion racism creates irreparable damage to individuals and their communities. This racism has its roots in the founding of the country on the backs of the slave and the way that black flesh has been exploited to create it. This racism means that certain crimes are ignored while others, who didn’t commit a crime are sentenced to death. It is crucial to understand the anti-black foundations of the world and how that has shaped the world today. Remembering the past is a crucial part of creating a future “ those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”.