Many people might be surprised to learn that the word taser is聽an acronym.聽The (debatable) non-lethal weapon that causes temporary paralysis was invented in the 1970s by a man named Jack Cover (who worked for NASA at one point). Cover aimed to create a non-lethal weapon that could be used in situations in which firing a real gun would prove fatal, like in an airplane hijacking. The inspirations behind the invention were eclectic. First, he witnessed a hiker survive a run-in with an electric fence. And second, he recalled a fictional electric rifle used in his favorite science-fiction novel growing up. It鈥檚 this 1911 novel, Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle, that inspired the name TASER. And, this origin story of the Taser is darker than you may realize . . . and it has an聽eerie relevance in present day.
Tom Swift and his electric rifle
In the novel (one in a series by Victor Appleton), Tom Swift, a young inventor, develops an electric rifle that proves to be the money-maker and constant savior for a group of white American ivory hunters on an African elephant hunt. 鈥淓lephant shooting in Africa! My! With my new electric rifle . . . what a fellow couldn鈥檛 do in the dark continent!鈥�
Early 20th-century novels, like this one, generally painted Africa as the place for wealthy white men to seek their fortunes, capitalizing on the exoticism and perils of 鈥渢he dark continent,鈥� and proving the supremacy of (white) Western civilization.
Racist undertones permeate the novel, despite encounters with 鈥渇riendly blacks鈥� peppered throughout. The new electric rifle is first used on a scarecrow that Swift鈥檚 鈥渃olored鈥� servant Rad (full name Eradicate Sampson) stuffs for the test. Rad calls Swift 鈥淢assa Tom鈥� and speaks in a dialect that clearly sets him apart: 鈥淵o-all ain鈥檛 gwine t鈥檋ab no duel, am yo?鈥�
Unsurprisingly, once Swift and his hunting party venture into the 鈥渄ark continent,鈥� the descriptions of the native Africans are even more discriminatory: from 鈥渇riendly black men of a simple nature鈥� to 鈥渂lack savages鈥� and 鈥渞ed apes.鈥澛�
Past meets present?
In the novel, Tom Swift鈥檚 electric rifle is an instrument of power and control to achieve seemingly conflicting ends; sometimes it鈥檚 aimed at the 鈥渞ed pygmies,鈥� sometimes it saves a helpless village from stampeding elephants (and the villagers are 鈥渟o thankful for what the white men had done for them鈥�).
Today鈥檚 Taser is equally loaded with significance and contention: The device is meant to improve the relationship between law enforcement and the community, but it鈥檚 not without controversy. With the media paying more attention to racial bias in policing practices across the United States, reports that police use-of-force is disproportionately deployed against minorities are causing a stir. One such report indicates that 鈥渂lack people are three times more likely to have a Taser used against them by police than white people.鈥� And, this is only worsened by the fact that at least 60 deaths have been attributed to the Taser, when it is supposed to be a non-lethal device.
In describing the Taser鈥檚 origins as a fictional weapon wielded by white men, Jamiles Lartey, a journalist for The Guardian, draws an unsettling connection between the 鈥減redominantly white police officers walking into predominantly black communities鈥� and the novel鈥檚 civilizing whites who are intent on appearing as 鈥渟aviors鈥� in the wilds of the 鈥渄ark continent.鈥�
Of course, the racist origins of the word Taser do not make the device a 鈥渞acist鈥� or 鈥渞acialized鈥� weapon. But, researchers are increasingly examining the contexts of the Taser鈥檚 use now in policing and how race plays a role.
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