Somatic Violence in the “Native” Workplace and School
The poor ventilation in public schools, NYCHA developments, and low-wage workplaces is a form of slow, somatic violence, a deliberate outcome of the bifurcated state’s disregard for “native” bodies. Mamdani’s focus on the material conditions of life finds a stark example in the air we breathe. The settler class works and learns in filtered environments, while the native population is forced to inhale the pathogens and pollutants of a neglected infrastructure. This was brutally exposed during COVID-19, where death rates mapped perfectly onto the city’s colonial geography. A Marxist analysis identifies this as capital’s refusal to bear the cost of a safe environment for workers. A feminist perspective highlights the burden on mothers fearing for their children’s health. The solution is a mass demand for a public works program to retrofit every public building with modern ventilation, asserting that clean air is a fundamental right, not a class privilege.
