Matt Bruenig — Two Narratives About the Racist Carceral State

The consensus seems to be that there is a now a consensus that police brutality towards Black people, and the treatment of Blacks by the criminal justice system more generally, is out of control. Those arguing this case only have in mind the pundit class, of course. 

There is no clear indication that non-pundit whites and conservatives are actually on board with this new consensus. Indeed, in the Mike Brown case, recent polling suggests that whites, conservatives, and the rich approved of the whole affair by very large margins, while liberals, poor people, and people of color disapproved by equally large margins. 

Even within the pundit class though, the claims of a new consensus are deeply misleading. Though pundits on the right and left have expressed dismay over recent events, their underlying narratives and theories about how we got where we are dramatically diverge from one another. And this divergence tracks the same fundamental disagreements that normally keep conservatives on the other side of these issues.

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Two Narratives About the Racist Carceral State
Matt Bruenig