To Be A Black Man Is To Be Docile
When is it the right time and place to be a black man?
Violence against black bodies is nothing new, especially black male bodies. No matter age, economic status, sexuality, physical build, achievements, intelligence, etc., a black man’s body can become docile at any moment and in any space.
On March 24, 2017, five black boys, ages ranging from 12 to 14, were held at gunpoint by Michigan police. The boys were on a walk home from playing basketball nearby, which is a usual activity at at usual location for this group. There was a reported altercation where the children were playing basketball. Police, responding to a witness claiming to have seen a gun during the altercation, felt it necessary to follow, draw guns and search the five. The children were innocent and had nothing to do with the reported altercation.
Oh and yes, they were also unarmed.
While being respectful and cooperative, the parents of the children did not hesitate to speak up against the events that took place. The body cam footage released shows a conversation between an officer and one of the victims father, during which the officer makes a disturbing comment: “wrong place at the wrong time, obviously for these kids”.
How is walking home from playing basketball at a local recreation center the wrong place or the wrong time? When would be the right place or the right time?
In Discipline and Punish, Michael Foucault makes interesting arguments towards docile bodies in relation to space and time.
He argues that society has moved from torture and public punishment to making bodies docile as a new form of discipline. His argument that there is no longer public punishment is flawed for obvious reasons; the #1 reason being the amount of police brutality caught on and off camera in the last decade alone. Now, people are publically punished without a conviction.
However, Foucault’s theory in regards to docile bodies stands firmly when applied to black men. He toys with the idea that acts of discipline make bodies docile. Powerful entities are created and given the rights to control, govern, and discipline black men’s bodies as they see fit. In many cases, this discipline or attempt to control escalates to murder: Freddie Gray, Philando Castile, Terence Crutcher, Eric Garner, and many many more.
I’d argue that space and time take on a special role in the contruction of how black men’s bodies are portrayed. At any moment, their bodies are dehumanized and constructed to be controlled. The time and space that black male bodies are disciplined into are subjective from powerful figure to powerful figure. For example, cops can view and discipline bodies as they choose, but it varies from cop to cop. Experiences with law enforcement differ amongst black men, because cops have the power to decide how that black body will be treated at that specific time, in that specific place.
This method of disciplining these bodies on a case by case basis is what makes black men docile. It sends the message to black bodies that at any time they can be forced to be submissive, susceptible to violence or have their rights violated.
These five black boys will forever move differently in the world, because of their unnecessary encounter with local police. They will forever know that there is no right time or place to be a black man in America.
