Introduction
In recent years, the state sanctioned violence inflicted upon Black and Brown bodies has been depicted throughout U.S. media, leading to a national uproar which sparked the formation of the Black Lives Movement in 2013. This movement was formed after the non-indictment of George Zimmerman, who killed Trayvon Martin because “he looked like he was up to no good.”
Michael Brown, another innocent teen, who was initially stopped by police officer, Darren Wilson, for jaywalking in Ferguson, MO fell victim to broken windows policing. The broken windows theory contends that by taking a “tough stance against... minor forms of antisocial behavior, such as public drinking, subway fare beating, and vandalism, the community will realize that law breaking of any kind will not be tolerated” [1]. Broken windows policing has contributed to the overall influx of Black and Brown individuals in the prison industrial system and one can argue that the usage of this method in incredibly flawed and racially charged. In the 1990s, the former mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani, implemented a broken windows policy of policing because he believed that stopping petty crimes would preventing bigger crimes in the long run. Overtime, smoking marijuana in public, spraying graffiti and panhandling loose cigarettes were targeted by the New York City Police Department (NYPD).
Throughout an interview with Jefri Mesa, a native of the Melrose section of the South Bronx, he expressed frustration regarding how he and his brother had been targeted by police on two different occasions. Undoubtedly, these instances never would have happened if it had involved two white men. The mass surveillance of communities of color, targeting Black and Brown people, is upsetting and highlights how Black and Brown children are often denied the right to a childhood due to the criminalization and dehumanization inflicted upon them by the criminal legal system.
From Hillary Clinton’s use of the term “super predators” in the 1990s, to the stereotype of Black and Brown bodies being innately violent and having super strength, it is quite clear the government must analyze the ways in public policies negatively affect the livelihoods of people of color. This also raises the question – who is granted the right to truly be a child? Perceptions of criminality are often perpetuated by the police, who can be incredibly biased. These aggressive policing tactics, which are used to control urban communities of color, serve to sustain broader systems of inequality and subordination in our contemporary political moment.