A Declaration of War: An Analysis of How the Invisibility of Black Women Makes Them Targets of the War on Drugs

Abstract

ABSTRACT. This article explores the various and complex processes through which black women have been constructed as expendable. Drawing insights from Ralph Elison's (1952 Ellison, Ralph. [1952] 1995. Invisible Man, New York: Vintage International. Reprint [Google Scholar]) Invisible Man, I explore the means by which black women are rendered invisible within the contemporary American polity and within the black community, suggesting that the discursive production of invisibility is a necessary precondition for making them targets of the ever expanding War on Drugs and its intersection with education, housing, and welfare policies. Indeed, I argue that the production of black women's invisibility not only situates some black women below the threshold of public concern, but paves the way for policies that that perpetuate their inequitable social, political, and economic positions.