Thread by @Race_Class

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How does the carceral state operate in the US?

As the world wakes up to racism and police brutality, these articles reveal the implications of the carceral state for black communities in the US.

Feat. Angela Davis, Micol Seigel & Colleen E Mills

📺Framing Ferguson

In 2014 a police officer shot unarmed teenager Michael Brown, sparking protests around the world. Protests in Ferguson were met by intense law enforcement.

This piece analyses Fox News coverage, arguing it perpetuated racist discourses
journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.117…

Violence work: policing and power by Micol Seigel

‘We see that police work is the work of the state, and the work of the state is violence, racialised in the interests of capital.’
1/2

Ad hoc outcries about police excesses miss the point about the nature and role of the police. Through the term ‘violence work’ the author shows how the police carry out violence work for the state
2/2

cc: @KeeangaYamahtta @prisonculture @rising_majority

journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.11…

Detroit and the political origins of ‘Broken windows’ Policing examines how this policy criminalises and incarcerates black populations - ‘The state’s primary tactic for dealing with racialised surplus populations was aggressive criminalisation.’

journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.117…

Racism, fines and fees and the US carceral state by Elizabeth Jones reveals how the imposition of fines and fees for low-level offences extract revenues and criminalises poor communities of colour

journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.11…

De-provincialising police violence by @dylanrodriguez
examines how a police officer’s use of pepper spray on Occupy protesters at @ucdavis in 2011 catalysed a global response, but was isolated from the historical context of the policing of black people

journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.11…

Avery Gordon interviews Angela Davis on the prison industrial complex:

‘Prisons do not disappear problems, they disappear human beings and the practice of disappearing vast numbers of people from poor, immigrant and racially marginalised communities has become big business’ 1/2

‘A radical strategy to abolish jails as the normal way of dealing with the social problems of late capitalism isn't a strategy for abstract abolition. It's designed to force a rethinking of the repressive role of the state + carve out space for resistance'
journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.117…

Ruthie Gilmore: Globalisation & US prison growth

‘Alternative global activism matured by 30 years of mortal lessons might rise to tear down the sturdy curtain of racism behind which the prison industrial complex devours working men & women of all kinds'
journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.117…

We hope you find the above articles a helpful resource. Read, circulate around your networks and let us know your thoughts!

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