DOGS USED AGAINST AFRICAN AMERICANS THEN AND NOW
SLAVERY
To conscript dogs into Black people’s racial subjugation and make the animals feel animosity towards Black people, “enslavers trained dogs by forcing enslaved people to beat the dogs[…]while others arranged planned chases or commanded dogs to attack enslaved people who had been forced to secure themselves to trees.”
Furthering this divide, slaveholders would feed their dogs rich diets of meat while denying the same to enslaved people. The institution of slavery was so desperate to suppress any bonds between enslaved people and dogs that these states even made it illegal for enslaved people to have dogs, claiming dog ownership constituted weapon possession. Despite the fact that dogs had to be trained to recognize and attack Blackness as they could not detect inherent racial differences, many “white Southerners, including Thomas Jefferson, believed that Black people smelled, looked, felt, and tasted different such that their dogs could detect differences between races imperceptible to humans but objectively present.” As Wasilczuk aptly summarizes, ultimately, “in treating dogs’ perceptions of their handlers’ prejudices as innate, white Southerners employed their animals in the project of race- making and racialized subordination.” Dogs thereby became forced partners to state violence.
The historical pattern of the state forcing animals to attack human beings for cruelty and profit continues today. According to a public records request, Houston Police Department officers reported siccing dogs onto 104 people in the 14 months between March 2022 and May 2023. At least 77 of the 104 people attacked by these single police department’s K9 unit were either charged with nonviolent offenses or nothing at all. A 2019 study that examined more than 32,000 emergency room visits caused by police dog attacks between 2005 and 2013 found that 42 percent of the victims were Black.
CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
During the civil rights movement in the 1960s, police and white supremacists used dogs to attack peaceful Black protesters, resulting in disturbing images of canines mauling demonstrators. These police dogs became brutal symbols of the status quo’s power against the protesters.
TODAY
Data on police dog bites reveals significant disparities in the demographics of victims. Black individuals, who make up just 13.4% of the population, accounted for nearly half of those who sought emergency treatment after being bitten by police dogs. While the use of police dogs is not typically considered lethal force, it can result in serious harm, affecting innocent bystanders and even the dog handlers themselves. The data underscores the need for greater oversight and regulation in the deployment of these animals.