Surveillance of the Self

Within the United States, marginalized groups are surveilled like it is a second piece of them, almost as if a shadow-like figure followed their every move. The presidency of Donald Trump accentuated the proliferation of surveillance of queer groups, and has given others the space to expand the panopticon. An increasing number of bills have been introduced at the state level infringing on the rights of folks within the LGBTQ+ community, police departments are developing techniques to surveill people in a whole new way, and corporate lateral incentive programs to bust shoplifters. All of this only increases the way queer groups must regulate themselves in fear of coming into the spotlight of speculation by conservatives. 

 Furthermore, Florida Governor Desantis’ bill, HB 1557 but dubbed ‘Don’t Say Gay’ by critics of it, only builds on the thoughts regarding the Lawrence-Garner v Texas case. Don’t Say Gay prevents public school teachers, from kindergarten to third grade, from speaking about anything regarding sexual orientation or gender identity within the classroom. It also restricts discussion on these topics, that are deemed “not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards”. Violating this law allows room for parents to sue the school district, and thus allows the district to fire said teacher(s) that violated the law. As a result of the bill, Florida teachers and public school employees that are a part of the LGBTQ+ community will have to self-regulate, much like the after effects of the Lawrence-Garner v Texas case. The Lawrence-Garner case made it clear that being queer was only allowed in the ‘privacy’ of ones own home, and this bill only builds on that. 

It is legal to be queer anywhere in the US as of 2015, but attempting to educate others on what it means to be queer or how to address queerness in yourself is considered reprehensible in some places. Governor Desantis was elected while former President Trump was in office, and the two are inextricably linked. It has been argued that the Republican party is now simply the party of Trump, who was extremely vocal during his time in office and made many steps to hinder the rights of queer people. Desantis, being the Republican that he is, is inclined to follow in those footsteps and perpetuate the anti-queer narrative. He previously signed a ban on trans youths playing with their affirmed gender, disguised as a bill that would protect women. Instead, it forces vulnerable adolescents to play with their gender assigned at birth, causing further dysphoria and harm. It was signed on the first day of pride month in 2021, likely an intentional move to use as a signal that he does not care about the queer community. This exclusion of queer education and transgender students from sports is a piece of the larger panopticon that surrounds marginalized communities. These children and the people who are supposed to educate them into becoming compassionate individuals are subjected to regulations that exclude them from mainstream society. By forcing them to shelter parts of their identity away from the world, they become complicit in the envelopment of conservative ideology. 

A sense of security is the building blocks for the conservative party, anything they consider subversive is a threat – and it can be assumed that they feel the threat must be eradicated. In the eyes of conservatives, people of color subvert them and threaten their sense of security. According to conservatives, people of color are queer; they are “other.” Because they are other, they require heightened surveillance, and the police are just the way to enforce it. It serves a dual purpose, conservative politicians can advertise that they are ‘tough on crime’ by funding the police and they increase the monitoring of minorities. The documentary Do Not Resist focuses on the militarization of police, and the majority of the film is disturbing and can lead down a rabbit hole of concern. It shows the relationship between the military and local police departments and the equipment they use. The Marshall Project highlights the tools that local, county, and state level law enforcement agencies have purchased from the US military. For example, Maine has purchased just over thirteen million dollars worth of equipment. This amplified sense of policing is not new and comes from Trump’s desire for ‘law and order’- he has consistently been a proponent for increasing police presence and arrests. In 1989 he took out a full page ad insisting that the five boys falsely accused of viciously attacking a jogger in Central Park be sentenced to death. His large claims to crime did not stop there either, with him stating that there were not enough people in prison, and restarting federal executions. All of this further regulates those who could be affected by his actions. Black families have to have difficult conversations with their children about how they have to behave better than their friends in fear of being shot, and increasing public fear of crime would only strengthen police budgets and arrests. 

Unfortunately, the money spent on equipment and arrests is not the main item of worry from the film. Police departments across the country are attempting to develop algorithms that can predict crime by aggregating data of those dubbed criminals and using it to keep tabs on those deemed most likely to be a victim or perpetrator of a crime. Predictive policing is the official term and is in major departments such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York. The film specifically speaks of Houston’s interactions with it, and how they believe that it is an objective source that will save time and money. However, although algorithms cannot develop their own bias, they can inherit the bias of the creator or the data fed to it. It is no secret that law enforcement agencies are riddled with biases that negatively impact minorities, with unlawful arrests, abuses of powers, and police shootings. Therefore, it is not a large step to infer that the algorithms the same departments create would contain the same biases. These preventative policing programs also raise privacy questions from within the constitution. In order to be stopped and searched, there must be reasonable suspicion of a crime- does this algorithm constitute reasonable suspicion? In all reality, it merely reaffirms current police arrest trends, which are unjust. 

Policing in its current form is based on choices – choices of what is and is not a crime and who is and is not a criminal. Plenty of people do illegal things everyday and are never arrested for it, and plenty of people commit no crime and are still arrested, it is all a simple frame of mind. Queer bodies, bodies that are subversive, are the criminals in these scenarios and are watched for it. Predictive policing only adds to the surveillance of queer bodies and adds a shadow of a second person to them. There is a congregation of data that exists in a police department that tracks every move and predicts that queer bodies will commit a crime, based on the lies that police departments perpetuate, which creates a second self that will commit the crime. The saying goes, if you tell a lie enough times, eventually it will become true, and it does in fact ring true in this situation. Law enforcement agencies over-police communities of color, which leads to higher arrest rates, and thus higher incarceration rates. This leads to major parts of households gone away and higher financial burdens on those who are left. One thing that does ring true about crime is that economic stress can lead to crime, which makes over policing a self-fulfilling prophecy. It also leads a large chunk of the subversive groups unable to vote. In almost every single state once you are a convicted felon, you lose your right to vote. This means that those who are opposed to the subversive queer and minority groups have a vested interest in them being arrested. To circle back, when it comes to Florida, there are approximately 1,132,493 people who are unable to vote, almost 10% of the entire voting age population. That amount of people could have turned the tides during election season, giving the chance of Governor Desantis or former President Donald Trump having never been elected. These acts of the panopticon, where people are not sure if they’re being watched so they must regulate themselves, only serves the people in charge who wish to capitalize on them. 

Surveillance does not only come from the top town, but also laterally. Major US corporations ask employees to try and police those around them and even offer incentives to do so. Target is a prominent actor in this, offering up to one hundred dollars if employees catch people shoplifting – including each other. This causes people not to trust each other and place blame on the people they are supposed to be in arms with. It skews who the enemy is, and gives all of the power to the corporation itself. They do not lose in any capacity in this scenario – the very people who could turn against them have turned on themselves and they prevent shoplifting in the meantime. Employees will fight tooth and nail to gain an extra one hundred dollars, because minimum wage to fifteen dollars is not nearly enough to feed a family, pledging their loyalty to the very company who holds all the cards. Target is not the only company who offers this type of incentive either, at least a dozen others do, and in different ways as well; certain liquor stores offer incentives to bust fake IDs. This increases personal surveillance without these large corporations having to lift a finger, further upholding the panopticon. 

In Terrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times, Rasbir Puar discusses how notions of terrorism and queerness are riddled within the panopticon, how the government wedging itself into the idea of the private thus eradicated it. All of this builds on that idea that citizens are constantly being watched and surveilled, through legislation that removes the ability to even discuss queer individuals, or be one and participate in the things that make life enjoyable. Being a queer body also opens one up to being arrested for simply existing due to police perpetuating their lies, and someone profiting from it. Corporations also follow this model and increase surveillance between employees for personal gain. The presidency of Donald Trump opened all of this up for expansion due to his blatant desire for crushing everyone subservient to him, and when it worked well many followed suit, such as Desantis. The heightened surveillance serves to please those at the top of conservatives. Self regulation allows them to become complicit to the injustices conservatives are perpetuating. 

Sources:

“The Florida HOR House Bill 1557 (2022).” The Florida Senate. State of Florida Government, March 28, 2022. https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2022/1557.

Gross, Terry. “How Did the Republican Party Become the Party of Trump?” NPR. NPR, February 8, 2022. https://www.npr.org/2022/02/08/1079191067/how-did-the-republican-party-become-the-party-of-trump.

Atterbury, Andrew. “DeSantis Signs Controversial Bill Banning Transgender Women and Girls from Sports.” POLITICO. CNN, June 1, 2021. https://www.politico.com/news/2021/06/01/desantis-transgender-sports-bill-491495.

Puar, Jasbir K. “Intimate Control, Intimate Detention: Rereading the Lawrence Case.” Essay. In Terrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times. s.l.: Duke University Press, 2017.

Do Not Resist. Film. United States of America: Vanish Films, 2016.

“See What Your Local Agency Received from the Department of Defense.” Maine: See What Your Local Agency Received from the Department of Defense. The Marshall Project. Accessed April 1, 2022. https://www.themarshallproject.org/mp-graphics/201412-dod/embed.html.

Lopez, German. “Trump’s Criminal Justice Policy, Explained.” Vox. Vox, September 9, 2020. https://www.vox.com/2020-presidential-election/21418911/donald-trump-crime-criminal-justice-policy-record.

Do Not Resist. Film. United States of America: Vanish Films, 2016.

“Predictive Policing Explained.” Brennan Center for Justice. Brennan Center for Justice, April 1, 2020. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/predictive-policing-explained.

“Number of People by State Who Cannot Vote Due to a Felony Conviction – Felon Voting – Procon.org.” Felon Voting Disenfranchisement. Britannica ProCON, August 9, 2021.

“Evaluation of Target’s Safe City Initiative: Implementing Public-Private Partnerships to Address Crime in Retail Settings.” Office of Justice Programs. Office of Justice Programs, February 2021. https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/237917.pdf.