Open Hunting Season: Black Bodies as a Threatened Species

Authors

Mark C. Grafenreed, Southern Methodist University

Abstract

Tracing the Endangered Species Act of 1973 provides striking parallels with the historical, legal, and cultural aspects of bondage mapped upon Black bodies. The United States Congress promulgated the Endangered Species Act to protect and conserve threatened and endangered wildlife species. However, this gives rise to a serious moral dilemma and cognitive dissonance in that nearly 1,500 wildlife species benefit from the Endangered Species Act's protections. At the same time, Black bodies disproportionately suffer without similar federal protections. Congress has strengthened the Endangered Species Act's force through four amendments since its inception, even while there have been mounting threats to Black existence. There remains an "open hunting season" on Black bodies, and the Buffalo massacre and the brutal and senseless murder of Tyre Nichols, a Black male, on January 10, 2023, at the hands of five Black Memphis police officers, represent only the latest still frames indelibly etched into the psychological reels of Black minds. Critical Race Theory scrutinizes how historical and legal events have created the inequalities so effortlessly reproduced today. This Article's central claim is that Black bodies are a threatened species and that, by comparing the Endangered Species Act's express, statutory language to Black peoples' experiential realities in the United States, it is evident that this country is criminally liable. In contrast, federal legislation aimed at improving how government actors protect and serve their citizens, such as the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021, which mandates stricter "police practices and law enforcement accountability," has virtually become extinct in the corridors of Congress. This legislation was introduced after the vile murder of George P. Floyd, Jr., a Black male, on May 25, 2020, by White Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. When juxtaposing the protections, the Endangered Species Act currently offers vis-a-vis those George Floyd Justice in Policing Act seeks to provide, Critical Race Theory illuminates how the American legal system commits inchoate crimes of conspiracy in the threatened status of Black bodies.

Disciplines

Agriculture Law | Environmental Law | Land Use Law | Law | Law and Race | Legislation | Natural Resources Law

Recommended Citation

Mark C. Grafenreed, Open Hunting Season: Black Bodies as a Threatened Species, 30 Cardozo J. Equal Rts. & Soc. Just. 341 (2024).
Available at: https://larc.cardozo.yu.edu/cardozoersj/vol30/iss2/3