PSC 300 Zine

AMERICAN POLICING & BLACK WOMEN Olivia Gladu Cece Kersten Morgaine Mcilhargey Matthew Miller Grace Sollberger

INTRODUCTION: What is policing?

In the broadest sense of the term, policing is the “deliberate undertaking [of authority] to enforce common standards within a community.”1 Traditionally, “policing” conjures images of authority figures, typically white men, in uniform, strapped up and driving around in marked cruisers, supposedly looking for “criminals” to stop and crimes to solve. However, intersectional feminists, Black feminists and other like-minded modern thought-leaders have submitted that policing manifests in ways that deviate from this “norm.” Policing can manifest in respectability politics, in policing bodies — usually of women occupying marginalized identities. Policing can mean projecting normative expectations onto people’s expressions of their gender and sexuality. In her 1994 essay, “Not Just (Any) Body 1 Walsh, W. Francis, Banton,. Michael Parker, Whetstone,.

Thomas, Brodeur,. Jean-Paul and Kelling,. George L.. “Police.” Encyclopedia Britannica, September 1, 2020.

an ove

Can Be a Citizen…”, about body-policing in Trinidad and Tobago, M. Jacqui Alexander examines how the state “polices the sexual” and “reinscribe[s] inherited and more recently constructed meanings of masculinity and femininity.”2 By existing in societies that have mores and “norms,” and who rely on systems of oppression for their continued existence, policing in all of its forms is and will remain a constant in our lives.

Who polices?

Policing has many names and many faces. It looks like the police you’d expect, but it also looks like community members, social and cultural institutions and organizations, loved ones, and even ourselves.3 To judge whether policing is present in any 2 Alexander, M. Jacqui. “Not Just (Any) Body Can Be a Citizen: The Politics of Law, Sexuality and Postcoloniality in Trinidad and Tobago and the Bahamas. Feminist Review, No. 48, The New Politics of Sex and the State (Autumn, 1994), pp. 5-23.

3 Hazel V. Carby “Policing the Black Woman’s Body in an Urban Context.” Critical Inquiry 18, no. 4 (1992): 738-755.

:

erview of policing given situation, ask: am I or anyone else checking my or anyone else’s adherence to social, legal or cultural expectations? If yes, there is policing present.

How does policing affect Black women?

Black women in the United States have been targeted by both institutional and cultural policing. The policing of Black women’s bodies and sexuality by institutional forces seeks to hold Black women firmly under the interlocking systems of oppression that restrict their potential for upward mobility. This is seen in examples like the InterMunicipal Committee on Household Research in New York’s 1905 report by general director Frances Kellor, that raised “moral alarm” and berated

sex workers, specifically Black and migrant women, while failing to recognise that these women, in large part, were participating in sex work out of financial necessity and/or due to a lack of sufficient job options.4 Because “[B]lack women remain devalued and thereby unprotected by local laws, public policy, and most of all, community leaders, family members, or friends,” they are left most vulnerable to the demeaning effects of policing.5 Such effects include, but are not limited to, “alleged police brutality, harassment, and misconduct,” as well as the emotional effects that damage self-esteem, like the perpetuation of “fast-tailed” stereotypes and hypersexualization within their communities, within society and its media.6 4 ibid.

5 Sowande’ Mustakeem. “Suffering at the Margins:(Re) Centering Black Women in Discourses on Violence and Crime.” (2014): 323-327.

6 Andrea J. Ritchie and Joey L. Mogul. “In the Shadows of the War on Terror: Persistent Police Brutality and Abuse of People of Color in the United States.” DePaul Journal for Social Justice. 1 (2008): 175.

ANALYSIS:

the history of Black women and policing Slavery

The enslavement of Black people began in the 17th century and continued through the 19th century. Slavery is essential to mention when discussing policing as it set the status quo of oppression that policing is now based on.

Black women were raped and exploited by their white slave-owners to be used as chattel to produce and care for enslaved offspring, not knowing if or when their child may be taken. Their most basic freedoms, including the freedom of motherhood, were denied and oppressed.

Harriet Jacobs’s “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” recounts the responsibilities of enslaved Black women that were forced upon them. Black women resisted slavery in many ways, but due to their responsibilities

as a mother, they could not resist in the same ways enslaved Black men could, such as escaping to the North.1 Black women were deemed “equal” to Black men in labor and abuse, but domestic responsibilities fell “naturally” to them. In “Reflections on the Black Women’s Role in the Community of Slaves”, Angela Davis explains, “This role was dictated by the male supremacist ideology of white society in America; it was also woven into the patriarchal traditions of Africa. As her biological destiny, the woman bore the fruits of procreation; as her social destiny, she cooked, sewed, washed, cleaned house, raised the children. Traditionally the labor of females, domestic work is supposed to complement and confirm their inferiority.”2 The concept of mothering formed from slavery, as Black women did the nurturing and caring of children, while white women were, and still are, granted motherhood. This persists today as Black mothers are burdened with teaching racial socialization as well as facing the reality that their children are being taken away at much higher rates than white women. A study in New Jersey analyzed race and the reasons children were 1 Jacobs, Harriet A. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.

Thayer & Eldridge, 1861.

2 Davis, Angela Y. (1972). “Reflections on the Black Woman’s Role in the Community of Slaves.” The Massachusetts Review , Vol. 13 No. 1/2 Spring 1972. pp. 86.

put into the foster care system. It found that while Black children make up just 14% of children in New Jersey, they are four times as likely to be put into the foster care system as white children.3 3 Gonzalez, Sarah, and Jenny Ye. “Black Mothers Judged Unfit at Higher Rate than White Mothers in NJ.” WNYC, 26 May 2015, www.wnyc.org/story/black-parents-nj-lose-custody-their-kids-more-anyone-else/.

ANALYSIS CONT.

Lynching: Then & Now

Post-slavery, lynching and mob violence quickly became a way to police Black people and their communities. Ida B. Wells pamphlet “Southern Horrors: Lynch Laws in All Its Phases,” focuses on how whites used fear to maintain white supremacy and distinguishes how white versus Black women were treated when it came to rape. Wells describes the rape of a young Black girl in Baltimore, Maryland, by three white men. When the case went to court, a Black man defended the rapists who were acquitted.4 This is in comparison to the hundreds of cases of white women claiming to be raped by Black men who were then lynched, often without any trial.

Reproductive Policing

Reproductive rights have been another, more recent form, of policing Black women’s bodies. Though reproductive freedom affects all women, it especially influences the lives of Black women due to the age of mass incarceration. Section 1 of the 13th amendment states: “Neither slavery 4 Wells-Barnett, Ida B. Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases. Alpha Editions, 2018.

nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”5 This created the loophole allowing for slavery or involuntary servitude when convicted of a crime. Richard Nixon used this to his advantage when he initiated the War on Drugs, leading to a 700% growth in the incarcerated between 1972 and 2009 which disproportionately affects Black people and people of color 6and a 938% increase in incarcerated women from 1977 to 2009.7 Not only did this uphold white supremacy, it upheld capitalism as for-profit prisons benefited.

The Supreme Court case Roe v.

Wade has been under attack since it ruled in favor of reproductive freedom. With a six conservative judges of nine total, it is threatened again.

Lynn M. Paltrow forebodes the consequences of such in “Roe v Wade and the New Jane Crow: Reproductive Rights in the Age of Mass Incarceration”: “I conclude that these efforts, if unchecked, not only will result in massive deprivations of pregnant women’s liberty, but also will create a basis for ensuring a permanent 5 “The 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.” National Constitution Center – The 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/ amendment/amendment-xiii.

6 Ghandnoosh, Nazgol. “U.S. Prison Population Trends: Massive Buildup and Modest Decline.” The Sentencing Project, 19 Sept. 2019. www.sentencingproject.org/ publications/u-s-prison-population-trends-massive-buildup-and-modest-decline/.

7 Paltrow, JD, Lynn M. (2013). “Roe v Wade and the New Jane Crow: Reproductive Rights in the Age of Mass Incarceration.” American Journal of Public Health, January 2013, Vol 103, No. 1.

underclass for pregnant women or, for lack of a better term, a new Jane Crow.”8

Conclusion

The history and analysis stated above only skims the surface of policing that oppresses Black women. Certain dergatory langauge and hypersexual stereotypes are other forms of policing that uphold the systems of power that oppress marginalized groups. Black women have been forced to learn how to survive using tactics such as code switching (the practice of changing how 8 Paltrow, JD, Lynn M. (2013). “Roe v Wade and the New Jane Crow: Reproductive Rights in the Age of Mass Incarceration.” American Journal of Public Health, January 2013, Vol 103, No. 1.

one acts around different groups or people) and engaging in the “cult of secrecy” (the practice of hiding their “inner selves”).

Modern-Day Policing

Policing has taken different forms throughout U.S. history, as seen in each section above. Today, one of the greatest forms of physical policing, or modern-day lynchings, is police violence. Lynchings by mobs are less common as of the 1980s (lynchings were not recognized as a federal crime until 2020, despite the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill proposed in 1918), 9 but state sanctioned violence is still presistent. Today, Black people are 3 times as likely to be killed by police than white people.10 The Black Lives Matter movement has played a large part in bringing awarenesss to police brutality, but justice is often not swift or served at all.

In the next section, we examine the death of 16 year-old Ma’Khia Bryant case of police violence from Franklin County, Ohio.

9 “NAACP History: Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill.” NAACP, 11 July 2018, www.naacp.org/naacp-history-dyer-anti-lynching-bill/.

10 Mapping Police Violence, 2021, mappingpoliceviolence. org/.

COMMUNITY POL FRANKLIN COUNTY, OH

F

ranklin County, Ohio, has one of the highest police brutality rates in the nation. Home to 20 percent of Ohio’s Black population, Franklin County has accounted for 33 percent of police-involved fatalities with the Black populace of the state.1 Despite numerous community policing efforts, such as dialogue between police, government resources, citizens, and local business to address the specific problems directly affecting the community, crime continues to rise and the rates of death

by Black people shot by law enforcement continue to increase. Franklin county accounts for one-third, of the deaths of Black people fatally shot by law enforcement in Ohio.2 For a state with 88 counties, this statistic is significant; a third of the murders of Black people by police in the entire state found in one specific county. Worse, is that while this statistic 1 Doyle, Céilí. “Franklin County Has One of Highest Rates of Fatal Police Shootings in Ohio and the U.S.” The Columbus Dispatch, The Columbus Dispatch, 24 Feb. 2021.

2 Doyle, Céilí. “Franklin County Has One of Highest Rates of Fatal Police Shootings in Ohio and the U.S.” The Columbus Dispatch, The Columbus Dispatch, 24 Feb. 2021.

is staggering, police shootings and brutality towards Black members of the community have only progressed over the years. Since January 1, 2015, there have been 38 fatal police shootings in Franklin County.

On average that is six fatal killings of innocent Black people per year.3 Upon public recognition of the statistics for fatal killings of Black residents in Franklin County, reports have been conducted by various consultant groups in an effort to provide supportive data. In August 2019, the Matrix Consulting Group’s report showed a “significant disparity” between how force was used, and how often it was used, against Black versus non-Black residents. Moreover, a survey was conucted to examine discrimination within Franklin’s police departmanet, which about 100 out of the 1900 employees within the Columbus Division of Police responded to. 30 percent of the 100 3 Andrea J. Ritchie and Joey L. Mogul. “In the Shadows of the War on Terror: Persistent Police Brutality and Abuse of People of Color in the United States.” DePaul Journal for Social Justice. 1 (2008): 175.

LICING:

who responded, claimed to have witnessed discrimination against a member of the public from fellow officers.4 Police brutality and fatal shootings in Franklin County have only increased and worsened in severity, demonstrated not just in statistics, but by the real life struggles and fears in 4 Doyle, Céilí. “Franklin County Has One of Highest Rates of Fatal Police Shootings in Ohio and the U.S.” The Columbus Dispatch, The Columbus Dispatch, 24 Feb. 2021.

which Black residents of the county face day after day. Numerous failed board meetings and dialogues amongst community members and persons of authority have been ongoing, but so have the violence and the murders. It is clear that the discrepancy is rooted in policy and a lasting history of suspicion and bias which police departments have held toward the Black community.

MA’KHIA BRYANT

O

A specific example of policing, and the systemic injustices of Black women, is the death of Ma’Khia Bryant. Bryant’s death is an example of policing in its most literal form. On Tuesday, April 20, 2021, as the country patiently watched the television waiting for the Derek Chauvin verdict to air, a tragedy struck the streets in Columbus, Ohio.1 Twenty minutes before the verdict was announced, Ma’Khia Bryant was shot and murdered by police Officer Nicholas Reardon.2 Bryant had called the police at 4:35 regarding a physical altercation and potential stabbing.3 She was calling the police to protect 1 Ferenchik, Mark. “Ma’Khia Bryant: Columbus Police Release Body Camera Footage in Shooting of 16-Year-Old.” The Columbus Dispatch, The Columbus Dispatch, 26 Apr. 2021, www.dispatch.com/story/news/crime/2021/04/20/ one-person-killed-officer-involved-shooting-eastside/7309088002/.

2 Ferenchik, Mark. “Ma’Khia Bryant: Columbus Police Release Body Camera Footage in Shooting of 16-Year-Old.” The Columbus Dispatch, The Columbus Dispatch, 26 Apr. 2021, www.dispatch.com/story/news/crime/2021/04/20/ one-person-killed-officer-involved-shooting-eastside/7309088002/.

3 Ferenchik, Mark. “Ma’Khia Bryant: Columbus Police Release Body Camera Footage in Shooting of 16-Year-Old.” The Columbus Dispatch, The Columbus Dispatch, 26 Apr. 2021, www.dispatch.com/story/news/crime/2021/04/20/ one-person-killed-officer-involved-shooting-eastside/7309088002/.

herself from these attackers, but ultimately the opposite occurred.4 By 4:46 an ambulance had already been called to take Bryant to the hospital, at 5:21 she was pronounced dead.5 The news of Bryant’s murder quickly became knowledge to the people and sparked public outroar as protestors took the streets. The community had very little time to rejoice over the outcome of the Chauvin verdict when tragedy struck again uniting another call to action.

Bryant is from Franklin County, Ohio, which has one of the highest rates of fatal police shootings. The Ohio Alliance for Innovation for Public Health recently completed a study that found that an average of 4.81 per million people have died because of 4 Ferenchik, Mark. “Ma’Khia Bryant: Columbus Police Release Body Camera Footage in Shooting of 16-Year-Old.” The Columbus Dispatch, The Columbus Dispatch, 26 Apr. 2021, www.dispatch.com/story/news/crime/2021/04/20/ one-person-killed-officer-involved-shooting-eastside/7309088002/.

5 Ferenchik, Mark. “Ma’Khia Bryant: Columbus Police Release Body Camera Footage in Shooting of 16-Year-Old.” The Columbus Dispatch, The Columbus Dispatch, 26 Apr. 2021, www.dispatch.com/story/news/crime/2021/04/20/ one-person-killed-officer-involved-shooting-eastside/7309088002/.

Reardon was quick to shoot her four times.10 The body camera footage is difficult to watch, but its important to see in order to understand the lack of effort the officer put into de-escalating the situation. There have been hundreds instances where armed white men are safely arrested.

When training to become an officer, students learn how to deescalate all kinds of situations. So why didn’t Officer Reardon do that? The answer is simple, the color of Bryant’s skin.

police brutality. Franklin county the 18th highest rate of fatal police brutality in the country.7 At the time of her death, Bryant was in the foster care system and was under their custody.8 Professor Treva Lindsey, of African American women’s history at Ohio State University, said children in the foster care system are more likely to experience more violence in their lives, which can be determined to development.9 The city had released the fast-paced, body camera footage to the public a couple of hours after Bryant’s death, which shows Bryant was seen holding a knife. Officer 6

6 “Ohio County Where Girl, 16, Was Killed Is State’s Deadliest for Police Shootings.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 21 Apr. 2021, www.theguardian.com/ us-news/2021/apr/21/makhia-bryant-ohio-county-deadliest-police-shootings.

7 “Ohio County Where Girl, 16, Was Killed Is State’s Deadliest for Police Shootings.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 21 Apr. 2021, www.theguardian.com/ us-news/2021/apr/21/makhia-bryant-ohio-county-deadliest-police-shootings.

8 Ferenchik, Mark. “Ma’Khia Bryant: Columbus Police Release Body Camera Footage in Shooting of 16-Year-Old.” The Columbus Dispatch, The Columbus Dispatch, 26 Apr. 2021, www.dispatch.com/story/news/crime/2021/04/20/ one-person-killed-officer-involved-shooting-eastside/7309088002/.

9 Cineas, Fabiola. “Why They’re Not Saying Ma’Khia Bryant’s Name.” Vox, Vox, 1 May 2021, www.vox. com/22406055/makhia-bryant-police-shooting-columbus-ohio.

Bryant’s death was another example of the negligence that is portrayed by the police force. The media portrayed Bryant as the aggressor and instigator since she was holding a knife.11 The image of Black women that the media and police portray is a way both institutions justify racially driven murders. This discriminatory behavior has been used for decades to justify police brutality. The interim police chief in Cleveland, Ohio, Michael Woods, excused the use of excessive force by his officers because Bryant was armed.12 Police use excuses to justify their actions and perpetuate hate in their practices. Black women continue to face the reality that the police are a constant threat to their lives, and Ma’Khia Bryant’s death is another reminder of such injustices.

10 Cineas, Fabiola. “Why They’re Not Saying Ma’Khia Bryant’s Name.” Vox, Vox, 1 May 2021, www.vox. com/22406055/makhia-bryant-police-shooting-columbus-ohio.

11 Cineas, Fabiola. “Why They’re Not Saying Ma’Khia Bryant’s Name.” Vox, Vox, 1 May 2021, www.vox. com/22406055/makhia-bryant-police-shooting-columbus-ohio.

12 Cineas, Fabiola. “Why They’re Not Saying Ma’Khia Bryant’s Name.” Vox, Vox, 1 May 2021, www.vox. com/22406055/makhia-bryant-police-shooting-columbus-ohio.