Human rights advocacy often faces a paradox: how can one champion rights for those whose humanity is neither acknowledged nor accepted? In 1991, following the brutal beating of Rodney King and the tragic death of Latasha Harlins, a community member poignantly stated during a Los Angeles City Council hearing, “The police are trained to see black men as criminals first, citizens second”
To address this, a “human-before-rights” approach is essential, redefining the role of police in our communities. Advocates striving to end police-involved fatalities among Black people must confront this truth: societal structures often fail to recognize Black individuals as fully human. Since accessing human rights necessitates being seen as human, it’s imperative to shift focus from merely enacting protective laws to fostering genuine inclusion and recognition.
Recognizing Humanity Through Legal Systems
The dehumanization of Black individuals by law enforcement is evident in the inconsistent application of laws. In The New Jim Crow Michelle Alexander highlights how mass incarceration and subsequent disenfranchisement create a marginalized underclass, predominantly affecting urban Black populations. This systemic exclusion denies them fundamental rights and perpetuates societal divisions.
Studies further reveal that law enforcement officers are more inclined to associate African American faces with criminality. This implicit bias not only influences policing practices but also reinforces societal prejudices, leading to disproportionate targeting and unjust treatment of Black individuals.
Regaining Humanity
Confronting this legacy of dehumanization requires transformative approaches. In the face of this legacy of dehumanization, regaining humanity seems a daunting task. While legal reforms are necessary, they are insufficient alone. We must engage with the individuals who create, enforce, and are impacted by these laws. Theater emerges as a powerful medium in this endeavor. By providing a neutral space for dialogue and expression, theater fosters empathy and understanding, bridging divides between communities and law enforcement.
Our overreliance on laws and violent force is and will continue to destroy our nation and our dehumanizing policies are causing the whole of our society to erode. First, we must understand that it is not a matter of needing more laws. Police brutality is not a legal issue and it cannot be resolved through the law because the law did not create it. We must address the people who create, enforce and are impacted by the law. We must understand that humanity is not created to serve the law; rather, laws are created for and in the service of humanity. Laws successfully govern human relations when they support the existing social order and the citizens who wish to maintain it. We need a new social order, a new culture.
This order of human before rights is the central argument of Theater for Humanity. The central premise of Theater for Humanity is that the social and communal ties – upon which the foundation for agreement must be laid to validate our legal frameworks – do not exist. Therefore, instead of meeting in a confrontational manner with a uniformed officer confronting a black person armed and ready to shoot to kill, Theater for Humanity asks police officers and formerly incarcerated persons to meet at the theater: a neutral space for dialogue, expression and exploration of community policing solutions. The work is designed to address the decision-making processes that often lead to conflict, misunderstanding and even death between black, formerly incarcerated persons and law enforcement officers as was the case with Rodney King who was on parole for robbery.
Building a New Social Framework
To change community-police relations, we need tools that build culture and community.
If human rights analysis assumes that society can secure rights for black people while neglecting to acknowledge the humanization process, then the result will always be policy that has missed the mark; for, it is not a matter of one or the other; rather, it is a matter of the order and of understanding which drives the conversation: the human or the rights. Human rights advocates must follow the order of first the human and then – as a means of supporting and securing existing human relations – the rights.
To reshape community-police relations, we need tools that build culture and community. Theater for Humanity unites police officers, formerly incarcerated individuals, and theater practitioners to engage in dialogue and develop local policing strategies. This collaborative effort fosters a sense of shared humanity and mutual respect, essential components for a just society.
Emile Durkheim, in “The Division of Labour in Society,” emphasized that social contracts rely on underlying social cohesion. Without genuine human connections, legal frameworks lack legitimacy. Therefore, human rights advocacy must prioritize the recognition of shared humanity as a foundation for effective legal and social reforms.
Theater for Humanity unites three groups: police officers, formerly incarcerated persons, and theater practitioners (who implement and lead the project). Theater for Humanity can create communities where law enforcement officers and formerly incarcerated persons are a part of and engage with the communities where they police and live respectively. Officers are members of the community whose role is to protect. Theater for Humanity achieves this by providing space for officers and formerly incarcerated persons to have dialogue and build solutions for local policing strategies. Ideally, Theater for Humanity should become a space where officers who violate the community’s trust should be asked to come and participate to earn the right to serve a community. Theater performances are used as a tool for the wider community to engage in conversations that emerge from the workshops. If implemented widely, the program has the potential to change the entire culture of community-police relations. This is because theater is a space for healing; it humanizes the experiences of people who are voiceless and carries a people’s history.
In conclusion, Theater for Humanity offers a compelling model for transforming adversarial relationships into collaborative partnerships. By fostering understanding and empathy through the arts, we can begin to reconstruct societal structures that honor the humanity of all individuals. It’s a simple yet profound truth: to effect meaningful change, we must first recognize and embrace our shared humanity.
