Benjamin Chavis, the former executive director of the N.A.A.C.P., said, "I think to criminalize how a person wears their clothing is more offensive than what the remedy is trying to do".
It declares that these things must not be done, even if (it implies) it might suit our individual interests to do them; it attaches significant penalties to the conduct it criminalizes: how could such a voice be justified other than by claiming that it is speaking to us of moral duties that we owe to each other and to the polity?
But if anti-choice reactionaries want to argue that abortion should be re-criminalized, how can they logically claim that a woman who procures and pays for an abortion has committed no crime and deserves no punishment?
"We need to refocus our efforts away from criminalizing how someone looks or lives and instead focus on smart and creative ways to address the lack of affordable housing and support services for persons who are homeless".
How their play becomes criminalized and how they're socialized to become black adults who internalize that their very breathing selves are criminal.
So we can explain why some kinds of conduct are properly criminalized by showing how they wrong or harm 'the public', or 'the public interest': but can we explain all crimes in this way?
Only people of color are forced to apologize for the criminals in their midst, or rather, apologize for the racial stereotypes that govern how their group is criminalized.
"Have you ever heard of Skrillex being criminalized?" he asked me pointedly, referring to how white artists tend to face less scrutiny than their black counterparts.
But the court files include compelling stories of how residents have been stonewalled and criminalized and their communities strong-armed to ensure that nothing gets in the way of India's nuclear dream.
