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Alligator Alcatraz and the Racist Symbolism Behind It | Fort Wayne News
Florida’s Alligator Alcatraz wasn’t just a migrant detention center—it was a loaded symbol, echoing centuries of racist tropes that turned alligators into monsters targeting Black bodies. From 1700s slaveholders using alligators to scare enslaved people into submission, to post-Civil War cartoons depicting Black children as “alligator bait,” the imagery was weaponized to dehumanize. When Trump praised alligators as border “bodyguards,” he unknowingly revived this toxic legacy. The name alone carried weight—history doesn’t vanish, and symbols like these still echo in today’s politics…
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