Homo sacer , a figure in Roman law , is the "set apart" or accursed man: a person who is banned from the human community and may be killed by anyone but is not worthy of being a sacrifice to the gods. A person expunged from society and civil religion. A person whom, if killed, their killer would not be regarded as a murderer.
With the recent extrajudicial killings, i.e. murders, of Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, Paul O'Neal, Tyre King, Terence Crutcher and Keith Lamont Scott, as well as the attempted murder of Charles Kinsey, the unpleasant reality of the one-sided relationship between criminal justice and the black community was once again thrust to the forefront of the national consciousness. The Black Lives Matter movement took to the streets in mass protest, as police officers in cities such as Charlotte, N.C., geared themselves as if for foreign invasion. While many well-meaning liberals questioned the police response, it would be more surprising if the police had not responded with such pathological fury, given the status of black Americans as "homo sacer" in the American criminal-justice system, itself a direct reflection of society as a whole. To many, the protesters are an invading force.
Black Americans make up a fourth of those killed by police but are barely above a 10th of the population. One study found blacks are 13 percent of reported drug users but are 60 percent of the drug-crime prison population (whites represent 72 percent and only 25 percent, respectively), and when black children are accused of a crime, 58 percent are tried in adult court. The picture is clear: Black lives fill the role of the homo sacer in American society, a target that society can project its anger upon.
Those in power reinforce the image of the young black male as being inherently problematic. Whether it is Donald Trump openly taking support from white neo-Nazi nationalists and tweeting patently false statistics regarding "black" crime, ex-mayor Rudy Giuliani saying black youth are 99 percent more likely to kill each other, or Hillary Clinton calling black youth "super predators" in the 1990s, those in power preach false narratives of black violence.
So the visceral reaction to the Black Lives Matters movement and to white Americans who proclaim "Black lives matter" isn't surprising. To claim that is a traitorous act that insults the civil religion that rules America. The thought that a "non-White Anglo-Saxon Protestant" deserves the same dignity disturbs the status afforded to the dominant WASP. It is a pathological resentment — anger at the "other" — driving the resistance to true equality.
There is also no room in this stratified America for Hispanics, Muslims, the poor and impoverished of all colors, homosexuals, transgender individuals—anyone who doesn't fit the ideal.
The union of capitalism and Christianity has created a society that values power and prestige; the lives of black Americans perceived as having nothing to offer are not worthy of "human" status. So long as this social and economic system is in place, bigots and oppressors find an easy outlet for their horrifying beliefs.
How do we fix this? We must resist and overhaul the legal system that favors white over black, rich over poor, affluent over insignificant. As long as capital and property are favored in the law over people, there will be no justice.
Jesus was a poor preacher who violently cast the money-changers from the temple and spent his time with the sinners, preaching, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom." Muhammad exhorted the new brotherhood that "All mankind is from Adam and Eve, [...] a white has no superiority over a black nor a black has any superiority over white except by piety and good action." The Buddha taught that one must "Conquer anger with love, evil with good, meanness with generosity, and lies with truth."
Finally, there must be a true unity among all those who are "homo sacer" against the ruling powers who seek their own indulgence at the expense of others, whether consciously or unconsciously. The system that supports, encourages and allows bigots, exploiters and oppressors to enforce their views must go.
It is an uphill battle against an entrenched and systematic opposition, but it's a fight that must happen. Let us fight, and let us see each other for what we are: brothers and sisters bound by our common humanity, each filled with pride and joy at our unique creations.
Criminal defense attorney and armchair philosopher, Andrew J. Williams, Esq., lives and practices in his adopted home of Mississippi. This is his first column for the JFP.
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