Life and death in the racial state: Collateral consequences and the execution of Troy Davis

The execution of Troy Anthony Davis on 21 September 2011 highlights the intertwining of race and inequality in the US justice system, exposing the deeply privileged nature of this system and its white supremacist foundations. More specifically, for those groups that are caught up in its apparatuses, those that have been constructed as outside of its bounds and are the focus of its repressive tendencies, the execution of Troy Davis is a moment to begin understanding the processes that render justice in the United States unresponsive and unhinged from the workings of the public it purports to protect. Using the execution of Troy Davis as a starting point we explore his execution and illuminate the inhumanity of the US system of justice and ultimately show how capital punishment is coconstitutive with capital relations and the law. Specifically we build upon the idea of 'collateral consequences' to argue that once racialization processes become established, racialization becomes a self-perpetuating system.