Criminalising Blackness: Racial Hierarchy and Narrative in History

Throughout history an invented racial hierarchy has been perpetuated and developed in order to embed a white supremacist hegemony. Towards the end of legalised chattel slavery in European colonies and the American states, the manufactured stereotypes associated with Blackness quickly shifted from those which belittled and diminished to one which represented free Black people as an inherent threat to the safety and wellbeing of society. Exploring contributions made by scholars like Cesare Lombroso as well as the screening of propagandist films such as Birth of a Nation, as well as ostensibly abolitionist works, this paper explores the inherent connection between the history of racism and the ongoing oppression and stigmatisation of Black people by criminal justice systems and crime media.