Colonial officials openly justified forced labor as necessary despite admitting its criminality.

Evidence

Even if it could be proved that the forced labor system, of all colonial systems, is one that lends itself to improper usage [as though there is a proper usage of forced labor]; even if it could be shown that it is characterized by the highest figures of colonial criminality [as undoubtedly it was], it would still be approved and applied because it is necessary. — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 889

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Arendt’s banality of evil and STS work on the ‘necessity’ rhetoric that legitimizes organized violence.
• DEEPTHINKING: The bracketed insertions ‘[as though there is a proper usage of forced labor]’ show Goldberg using irony as analytic weapon — this is craft, but the load-bearing point is how an official commission can indict itself while exonerating.