whom he used to tie up to a joist, and whip upon her naked back till she was literally covered with blood.

there’s only one person who’s in charge of this situation and that’s Rodney Glenn King.”

distorted and dehistoricized the beating.

what metaphorization of the black male body had to have been already in place that invoked a national historical memory (constructed by whites),

White men have been the primary stagers and consumers of the historical spectacles

gouged out eyes sewed shut upon the screaming covers louder than life

Prince artfully makes a stylized tableau that her readers can more empathically experience

Closing defense statements continually named a “we,” referring to the non-black racial composition of the Simi Valley jury

Black bodies in pain for public consumption have been an American national spectacle for ~enturi

videotaped police beating of Rodney King

being White undoubtedly made it easier for ethnic minorities to assimilate into the mainstream of America.

extreme violence against people of color became even worse

Congress also passed fugitive Slave Laws, laws allowing the detention and return of escaped slaves, in 1793 and 1850.

Slavery was fully institutionalized in the American economic and legal order with laws being enacted at both the state and national divisions of government.

In some cases, police harassment simply meant people of African descent were more likely to be stopped and questioned by the police

This legislation, however, did not stem the tide of racial or ethnic abuse that persisted well into the 1960s. 

mistreating people of color, long after the end of the Civil War.

the rise of vigilante groups who resisted Reconstruction

Connecticut, New York and other colonies enacted laws to criminalize and control slaves.

many southern police departments began as slave patrols.

“two boys bled in the sawdust and dirt at the feet of a nigger woman holding a blood-soaked child to her chest with one hand and an infant by the heels in the other.” Sethe holds her dead child’s face “so her head wouldn’t fall off.” After killing one daughter, Sethe tries to nurse the other, “aiming a bloody nipple into the baby’s mouth.”

Margaret Garner, an escaped slave who had killed her own daughter rather than allow her to be returned to slavery.

The problem with the slave narrative is its predictability

slave narratives were not considered artful.

We feel its presence always, but we cannot bear to stare directly at it.

The Daily Beast declared 2013 “the year of the slavery film,”

12 Years a Slave

But I resented, or maybe envied, how easily they delighted in the spectacle of Walker’s art, while I found it hard even to look.

I felt jarred watching the smiling pair pose in front of horrifying images

Slave narratives have always been popular—and predictable

They were to risk all they knew, all that they loved, to fight to end the institution of slavery as they knew it.

He had particular markings on his body that his grandmother identified as divine.

Nat would have to obtain a pass from his masters to visit his family.

By 1831, Nat Turner and his family had passed through the hands of several different owners.

Southern slaveholders clung more tightly to the institution, even though its inherent faults and frailties were becoming more obvious.

abolitionists were using the accounts of former slaves to illustrate its horrors, while southern planters, struggling to justify the institution, were claiming enslaved people were content.  

Freedom was always on the minds of the enslaved, and Nat Turner was no exception.

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ON THE 07'HtR HAND, IF 'THC WORDS LOCK IN THE ~MEANIMS~ OF A SEQUENCE, THEN THE P!CTUKESCAN REALLY TAKE OFF. I CROSSED THE STREET TO THE CONVENIENCE STORE. THE RAIN SOAKED INTO MY SOOTS. I WENT BACK 10 THE I APARTMENT--I FOUND THE , I LAST PINT OF CHOCOLATE CHOCOLATE CHIP IN THE FREEZER. THE ClERK TRIED TO PICK ME UP. :I SAID /VO 7NANK.S. HE GAVE ME THIS CREEPY LOOK ... --AND FINISHED IT ALL. IN AN HOUR. ~