Dear America: Stop Calling Everyone “Criminal”.

Because technically they are called “suspects,” but that doesn’t work well for propaganda, does it?

On 15 Oct 2020, I was present for the Supreme Court Nominee Protest in Washington, D.C., near the Hart Senate Office building. Eventually, some of the protesters revealed a plan to sit in the street in protest, and one by one, they were detained by police. Arrested. Laws are laws, and rules are rules, I suppose.

There was this right wing agitator named “Ben” I overheard saying something like:

“Look at these criminals. Completely lawless criminals.” ~ Ben the Conservative Agitator

The first thing that ran through my head as I relaxed the viewfinder off my eye was that, technically, this authoritarian right-wing personality guy would — by the logic of his argument — literally co-sign the police murdering these detained protesters. You know, like how they have been doing, like George Floyd, or any myriad of people that are called “criminal.” We’ve seen this before, repeatedly.

I have this nagging suspicion that if these peaceful, detained protesters were even to give minor resistance to arrest, conservatives (more importantly, the 70,000,000+ Americans who voted for Trump) would have gleefully cheered for his street execution if the cops shot them where they sat. If these protesters offered any form of resistance to detainment, agitator Ben would have enjoyed and cheered on their slaughter. Ben is America’s conservative, the Trump supporter. Ben would have been more than marginally content with their murder. The sad part is that I don’t think this is an exaggeration. The more heartbreaking part is that conservatives are lot alone on this; liberals justify cops murdering detained “criminals,” too.

Let’s not be coy here; calling someone “criminal” in America practically grants carte blanche for cops to murder on sight essentially.

In America, while it’s not listed formally in law, in these days of civil rights protests and all, it does seem like the very concept of being labeled “criminal” carries the weight of being an un-person.

The way some people speak is like once you are called “criminal,” you don’t have regular rights as an American. It’s like your citizenship is revoked. Your personhood is revoked. Your American-ship is revoked. You don’t deserve to live; you deserve to die, regardless of how minor the infraction is. It’s like once you’re labeled criminal in America, you totally exist outside the protection of the law; there’s NO law to protect you, and anyone can kill you with impunity, especially by police — and they do.

There’s far too much evidence of this problem.

Try talking to a moderate white person about George Floyd and watch how their whole argument is based on the notion that “he was a criminal.” You can even hear this from conservatives when police accountability protesters are given a chance to speak. “Criminal” by their logic, means “kill on sight,” especially if they are Black.

Cops do not decide who is a “criminal.” This is explicitly why they infinitely use the term “suspect.” One can not deem one a criminal without an actual investigation, trial, and more importantly, conviction.

Anyone who is detained by police deserves to be maimed, mutilated, or die, based on what conservatives argue (and moderate liberals, but it’s a conservative stance).

The problem with this particular premise is that this flawed logic completely undermines the American justice system, morals, and ethics. Cops don’t determine who’s a criminal or not; courts do. Just because police detain a person, it doesn’t mean they are criminal. For anyone who boasts of being Blue Lives Matter, I find this matter fascinating because had you even listened to the police, and you’d discover that not even they call everyone in their custody or pursuit “criminal.”

Police call anyone they pursue or detain a “suspect”.

Strange, isn’t it? This thought-process goes to ridiculous lengths. A person can literally slap a police officer in their face, kick the K-9 dog unit, and jet off running, and the cop would pull the radio to his face and go, “I am in pursuit of the suspect.” Police don’t call everyone they encounter a criminal. So why do we? Why do you? Why do we let conservatives, toxic liberals, and other persons of malice continue to use this labeling?

Police of all across America call any and everyone they deal with a suspect. So why do we as Americans call everyone a criminal, even when cops don’t?

The only reason to call everyone interacting with police in the street before a trial of their peers and conviction a “criminal” is to poke at the American public’s collective emotions. Labeling theory suggests that individuals’ self-identity and behavior may be determined or influenced by the terms used to describe or classify them. I am here suggesting that labels and names influence the behavior and judgment outwardly. These labels affect the judgment of the third-party spectator. The third-party witness, commentator. Me. You. Us.

When conservative media decides to call demonstrably peaceful protesters criminal, they are essentially assigning and maintaining stigma onto a particular out-group they wish to demonize. And our moderate liberals fall for it, each time (moderate whites especially, love letting white supremacist conservatives frame reality, and they need to stop).

Calling everyone a criminal even when cops don’t is nothing more than a propaganda tactic to dismiss the fundamental rights of regular American persons, which has largely gone unquestioned. Everyone needs to question this behavior and begin rejecting it, now.

In Closing

I do not know who needs to hear this, but:

Cops do not decide who is a “criminal.” This is explicitly why they infinitely use the term “suspect.” One can not deem one a criminal without an actual investigation, trial, and more importantly, conviction. This is also why cops are not supposed to murder without arrest, trial, or conviction. In addition, maiming and mutilating civilians should not be valid options just because they don’t necessarily end in death. So why are you calling everyone and everything “criminal”? Even cops do not do this, or in a legal sense, are not supposed to. So they do not.

Note: The media — mainstream or otherwise — do not decide who is criminal or not either. Therefore, the media needs to stop doing this as well.

Cops are never even caught on tape calling someone a criminal. Think about it; a police officer is more willing to murder someone in broad daylight for eight minutes while cameras are rolling, than even utter the word “criminal”.

Police all over America, never say “criminal.” They say the “suspect” is apprehended; the “suspect” is moving. Never “criminal.”

The word criminal, is a legal term, and it’s not even used correctly. The only purpose of using the term so much without actual thought is for propaganda purposes: to demonize the target: Black people, and those who speak up in our defense, and other civil rights causes they dismantle white supremacy.

The ass-kissing and bootlicking is ridiculous because I know good and well y’all don’t think cops are some mythological elite force of people who are perfect in every way. The very fact that the moment they murder an unarmed black person — man, woman, boy or girl — they are mythologized as hyper-perfect beings of some sort is telling and is only testimony of how racist this nation, or you, really are.

Oh forgive me; I lied. I know exactly who needs to hear this.

Johnny Silvercloud is a U.S. Army vet turned civil rights/conflict photographer and anti-racism/sexism writer. Not a fan of intentional stupidity or passive-aggressive racism supporters, which tends to overlap.

✪ I have dad jokes. Subscribe. ✪ I have the best socio-political street photography. Look. ✪ This, is my Twitter. This, is my Instagram. ✪ AfroSapiophile: A publication for intelligent Black thought.