“society must be defended” by Michel Foucault
From “society must be defended” by Michel Foucault, he makes arguments concerning race and one of the stand out for me. Foucault makes the argument that the contemporary states make the race to get the chance of exercising sovereign power of killing. It can be through the killing of racially identified groups or even through indirect murders and political deaths. An example is where he argues that both the United States and English criminal justice systems carry out racism either directly or indirectly, which also includes police shootings and imprisonments. Foucault’s adds that racism extends to different groups that are racialized as being nonwhite. They include the black people, indigenous people and the immigrants.
This claim on race stands out for me because it is nothing but the truth. The race is just a platform which gives people reasons for discriminating certain people, engaging in violent acts in the name of race. Further, racism is disadvantageous to the minority group who tend to face the negative effects which come with racism such as police shooting and imprisonment. An example is where people of colour do not have the chance of enjoying justice in the criminal system, which is favourable to the white people only. Hence making a connection of what Michel Foucault points out between sovereignty and racialized state violence, like police brutality directed to the minority group in the society. I think that ending all racism cases in the criminal justice system demands the development of a non-racist type of national identity in addition to reconceptualization of the sovereignty of delegitimizing the state’s power of killing. Hence, the argument that race serves as just a platform of killing and practising injustice in society by Foucault stood out for me from all the other arguments.