Surveillance is not colorblind and varies by race, religion, and gender

Evidence

A surveillance society consists of separate systems that work together to make up a surveillant assemblage (Haggerty and Ericson 2000). Surveillant assemblages consist of laws, policies, technologies, and actions by both the state and private citizens. Because of the technological advances that characterize contemporary societies, surveillance has transformed significantly, leading to an increased interest in the scholarship of it (Deleuze 1992; Lyon 2001; Marx and Muschert 2007). Surveillance technologies—such as computerized lists of personal data on individuals and body scanners at airports—have been integrated into the social geography of the United States. Agents of the state no longer need to be present to surveil; technology allows for constant surveillance. Cameras are located in public spaces—such as on the street, in stores, and at traffic lights—to monitor criminal behavior and activity. But surveillance is not colorblind nor completely reliant on technology. The heightened presence of cameras and police in certain neighborhoods, the random stops and searches of black drivers, and the monitoring of Muslim communities reflects just some of the ways the state and citizens participate in surveillance that is directed at people of color. In other words, populations experience differential surveillance based on their racial, ethnic, religious, and gendered identities. Consequently, surveillance reinforces inequality (Haggerty and Ericson 2000), and the War on Terror institutionalized policies and perpetuated a rhetoric that resulted in the hypersurveillance of Muslims in America. — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 45

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces the surveillant assemblage framework — the core conceptual scaffolding for the whole book.
• XREF: Connects to the reader’s prior map slot on differential policing and COINTELPRO-era monitoring of Black and activist communities; expands it to religion/gender. — connects to: Color-blind security practices racialize without any actor believing they are racist — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 576