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A city ordinance in Phoenix allows police to arrest people for dressing scantily on charges of “manifesting an intent to commit or solicit an act of prostitution,” but the law doesn’t appear to treat everyone equally. Recent data obtained by the Phoenix New Times reveals that the majority of those charged with this offense over the past two years were Black.
Straight Arrow News contributor Adrienne Lawrence argues that such a law is just another instance of Black people facing unjust treatment compared to their white counterparts.
And so now in Phoenix, where Black people compose just over 7% of the population, while Black bodies are 53% of those charged with “manifesting prostitution,” in light of their lewd attire — which many would deem appropriate given the hot climate. It’s really full circle here. And as much as many people in white America will maintain that ordinances, like those in Phoenix, have nothing to do with race, when we know that that is not the case, because our minds use race as a mechanism for determining who really seems to break the law.
Hence, laws like this ordinance in Phoenix become just another mechanism for dehumanizing Black people, really just reminding us that our bodies are policed in ways that white bodies are not. And the consequences, well, they are very real.
A mandatory 15-day stint in jail can cost people their jobs. Can you simply disappear for two weeks and have no issue whatsoever with your employer? Most people can’t go MIA, particularly Black people, as we are far less likely to have salaried positions that allow for such sudden leave. We’re also less likely to have funds to hire accomplished legal counsel who can help beat the charge on our behalf. And missing work, well, that often means missing rent, car payments and so much more.
