My understanding of how this happens:
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Cops refer to adolescent suspects as “males” and “females” when they legitimately don’t know if they’re children or adults
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Then cops decide, “fuck it, we’ll dehumanize everybody,” and start referring to regular grownups as “males” and “females”
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Some demographics interact with cops a lot more than others
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POC end up internalizing this usage and refer to themselves and each other this way
