"The belief that marginalized and hated populations can find freedom by being recognized by law, allowed to serve in the military, allowed to marry, and protected by anti-discrimination laws and hate crime statutes is a central narrative of the United States.

Politicians, primary school textbooks, and the corporate media tell us the story that the United States left ugly histories of white supremacy behind through a civil rights movement that changed hearts, minds, and especially laws to eradicate racism and bring freedom to all. This simplified narrative is relentlessly reiterated in US culture and has played a starring role in the past four decades of lesbian and gay rights advocacy where the analogy to the Black civil rights to the Black civil rights movement has been a consistent rhetorical tool. 1. I argue that social movements must abandon the widely held belief that oppressed people can be freed by legal recognition and inclusion if we are to truly address and transform the conditions of premature death facing impoverished and criminalized populations in this period."

-Normal LifeAdministrative Violence, Critical Trans Politics, and the Limits of Law

Broadcast on:

13 Oct 2023