Exploitation

Hayes’s central thesis, that the United States is divided into a Colony and a Nation, recalls a historical trend to demonstrate the inequality between white and nonwhite Americans. Colonialism generally refers to a country controlling a distant, poorer country to exploit its natural resources and labor. This necessitated the creation of a separate legal system to govern the colony. Under this strict definition, a colony within a nation is counterintuitive. The two would share inhabitants and resources. Instead, Hayes’s conception of a colony is more theoretical and focuses on the ideas of external, unequal control and exploitation.

First, though the United States claims to be fully democratic, he argues that black Americans have never truly had democratic control over their own judicial system. Instead, whites have created a series of institutions to rule over black communities, enforcing laws without obtaining full consent. Hayes provides an example...