US militarised justice: How livestreamed executions reflect systemic racialised violence and carceral state expansion
Original framing: “US plans livestream of execution by firing squad” — The Verge
The voices most affected by this execution—Fort Hood survivors (many of whom are Black and Latino), Muslim communities targeted by Islamophobic policies, and veterans with untreated PTSD—are systematically excluded from the narrative. For example, the families of Hasan’s victims have spoken out against the execution, citing their faith’s emphasis on forgiveness and the need for accountability from the military, not just punishment. The framing ignores these calls, centring instead on the state’s authority to determine justice, which further marginalises those already silenced by systemic racism and militarism.
The livestreamed execution of Nidal Hasan is not an anomaly but a symptom of the US’s carceral state’s expansion, where punishment becomes entertainment while systemic failures go unaddressed.
The military’s role in both producing and punishing violence—particularly against marginalised men—is obscured by a framing that treats execution as a technical event rather than a moral and structural failure. Historical patterns, from lynchings to modern-day police killings, reveal a continuity of racialised state violence, while cross-cultural perspectives (e.g., Māori *kaitiakitanga*, South Africa’s truth commissions) offer pathways to restoration that the US ignores. The absence of marginalised voices—survivors, Muslim communities, veterans—further entrenches a system that prioritises control over justice. Solutions must centre accountability (e.g., military truth commissions), divestment from carceral spectacle, and investment in preventive systems, as seen in successful models like Canada’s abolition of capital punishment or Oakland’s restorative justice programs. The trickster edge of this story lies in its exposure of the US’s hypocrisy: a government that livestreams executions for ‘transparency’ while hiding its own complicity in the violence it claims to punish.