Stuart Hall et al's Policing the Crisis: Mugging, the State, and Law and Order, changed my life. In my brief stint of thinking perhaps I might enjoy studying sociology, I didn't retain much, but this seminal text has been one I have referred to since and I am forever grateful for my introduction to it.
To summarise: following increased Afro-Caribbean immigration into the UK, newspaper headlines, police and politicians started screaming about a 'mugging' epidemic in the early 1970s — a crime which had long existed but which, through this sinister title, sounded brand new because it could be attached to an ethnic minority.
Citizens became fearful because their internalised racism made them susceptible to this manufactured moral panic. When politicians seized on this fear as a way to install oppressive state mechanisms such as surveillance and increased police powers while avoiding tackling real social crises such as poverty and health, the general public were thankful and compliant. In short: using racism to win votes while ensuring the public are under control is a tried and true method.
And so, every time I hear about this 'African gang' crisis we apparently have in Melbourne, my mind goes back to Hall's text. Why is the media whipping up racialised fear? Will the major parties again take 'tough on crime' policies into the upcoming state election? How can the allegedly most progressive city in the country continue to be so incredibly gullible?
Through last week's Sunday Night report on Channel 7, we were treated to another round of fear mongering. Never mind that just last year police admitted that the so-called 'Apex Gang' did not exist and had never been predominantly African. Never mind that crime rates have in reality been falling across the city. The true tragedy of this is that thanks to continued sensationalised coverage, citizens are now policing their non-white neighbours at escalating rates and racially-targeted crimes have increased.
As an Aboriginal woman, I'm awfully tired of being told by politicians and newspapers which other people of colour I'm supposed to scared of. Particularly since all of these groups have thus far managed to come here and not undertake massive genocidal programmes such as massacres and stealing kids. Not only is it grubby vote grabbing on behalf of politicians and the apparatuses which support them, but it reminds me of how deeply embedded the White Australia Policy is in the psyche of this country.
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