Criminalizing Blackness: Race, Public Space, Noise, and Surveillance along the Detroit RiverWalk

Keywords: Black Geographies, Black Cities, Racialized Surveillance
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Tuesday
Session Start / End Time: 3/1/2022 11:20 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 3/1/2022 12:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 3

Abstract

My research project will investigate recent incidents of auditory and visual surveillance that occurred in public spaces in Detroit, such as The Riverwalk, Hart Plaza, and Downtown. The installation of surveillance cameras in public space such as the Project Greenlight program, and the excessive enforcement of noise ordinances in public spaces along the riverfront and in public parks often works in tandem with recent economic developments, such as the gentrification of existing housing, as well as new housing construction near the Downtown area, and the Detroit riverfront. I am particularly interested in tracing how nuisance laws have historically been used by law enforcement officers in order to criminalize racial and economic minorities. I also plan to investigate how the creation of the modern Detroit Police force, after the Detroit Riot of 1863, was linked to issues of racial profiling during the 19th century. I contend that noise violations, as well as vagrancy laws and “broken windows” policing, are policies that were instituted in order to control African Americans in public space. I argue that policies of control, such as Slave Codes and Black Codes, have left a legacy of racialized enforcement of laws regarding elements such as class markers, behavior, and access to public space.