Facing the Dragon: Black Mothering, Sequelae, and Gendered Necropolitics in the Americas

Anti-Black state violence across the Americas reflects a global gendered necropolitical logic. Yet, we often misread this violence by suggesting that the primary victims are men. Although state terror often results in the immediate physical death of young Black men, it is principally, yet tacitly, performed for Black women and impacts Black women disproportionately. This essay argues that the gendered necropolitics of trans-American anti-Black violence is expansive and includes the direct, immediate death of Black people and the lingering, slow death caused by sequelae. Within this calculus, Black mothers bear the particular weight of anti-Black state violence. Black mothers (social, biological, or otherwise) are scripted within the racial, hetero-patriarchal social order as enemies of the state. As such, they pose a unique political threat to the social order. Yet, while the intent of the state is to kill, instill fear and intimidate, the result has been the creation of new political knowledge and resilient political tactics. This paper considers the gendered necropolitics of anti-Black state violence in Brazil and the United States and Black mothers’ responses to this violence