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Labeling Capitol Rioters as ‘White Terrorist’ Does More Harm to Minority Groups
Expanding the use of the word ‘terrorist’ broadens the police state and encourages more surveillance of over-policed communities.
Almost two weeks after rioters attempted to overtake the Capitol building in the US, there has been debate over whether or not the rioters should be labeled as terrorists. To some, the term is appropriate because these people were inciting terror and intending to use it to topple the government. To others, they warn that in using the term we are encouraging an already sprawling surveillance state to become even larger as the FBI and CIA weed out anyone labeled a terrorist. Minority groups are more likely to be harmed than their White counterparts in expanding the term as they are more likely to be surveilled by the State.
A growing number of states are using AI surveillance tools to monitor their citizens. In fact, this year it is estimated that there will be one billion surveillance cameras around the world. The problem with public video surveillance is that it has not proven to be very effective in deterring crime and often reinforces existing societal biases. The ACLU wrote an article entitled What’s Wrong With Public Video Surveillance in which they found that public…
