ABSTRACT
Historically, white perpetrators of violence against people of color have rarely, if ever, faced punishment or incarceration. Even if the act of violence was a public spectacle with perpetrators in plain view, coroners’ inquests often read “at the hands of persons unknown”. The network that secreted lynching photographs and lurid press accounts informs the contemporary viewing of violence against black bodies. The killing of Eric Garner in New York on July 17, 2014 and representation of that event are exemplary of black bodies as topoi operating in today’s media networks, and they illustrate the blurred lines in networks of representation between observers and perpetrators. Black bodies have also often been a topos for arguments that justify violence to protect white femininity and structures of white patriarchy. The bodies of people of color, especially when they are victims of violence, are topoi, and they are used to rehearse, animate, and amplify arguments that maintain networks of white supremacy.
