The scenes out of Minneapolis is reminiscent of the documentary, Whose Streets, which chronicled the civil unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, following the police shooting of 18-year old Michael Brown in 2014.[1] Indeed, CNN reporter, Omar Jimenez (who was arrested, then later released in Minneapolis), described one street scene when the police arrived as, “chaotic…this is not what people could have imagined…it’s like something out of a movie.”
What is clear to me now, as it was then, is that this same story, as tragic as it is, continues to repeat itself. “I can’t breathe.”- Eric Garner. Died in police custody being transported for a minor offense -Freddie Gray. Died after being pulled over for a non-functioning brake light – Walter Scott. Died after being pulled over for running a stop sign – Jerame Reed.[2]
Whose Streets? and the current protests raise the same questions: 1) Are we seeing everything that is happening on the ground or only what the mainstream media chooses to show us? 2) Do black protestors engender a different response than white protestors? 3) Why are black victims quick to be pinned as criminals and even if they have committed an offense – no matter how minor – does that justify their death?
1) Is what we are seeing all of the truth? Journalists are incredibly brave; many risk their lives to cover war, violence, pandemics, protests and riots. Many have been arrested, tortured, and some killed. However, media companies are aware of what is a gripping story and what will draw viewers, thus improving their profit margins. As Whose Streets? illustrated, the mainstream media seemed to give a disproportionate amount of airtime to the incidents of property destruction rather than the love, community, and righteousness that was at the center of the movement in Ferguson.
Watching from afar, Whose Streets? director Sabaah Folayan wondered if there was a disconnect between what she was seeing on the news and what was really happening on the street. She and photographer, Lucas Alvarado-Farrar, went to Ferguson to participate and met many of the activists there, including co-director Damon Davis, an artist from St. Louis. Together, they filmed, photographed, interviewed a number of residents and collected cellphone videos, thereby documenting the peaceful protests and civil disobedience that the mainstream media did not cover. They dug deeper into what caused the protests and civil unrest: righteous anger over the death of a young man by the hands of a police officer.
The residents of Ferguson were more disturbed by the focus placed by the media on the destruction of property, rather than the loss of human life. Two activists noted that disparity. Kayla Reed said, “you can rebuild a building; you can’t resuscitate a life after it lies on the ground for four and a half hours with eight bullets in it.” Another activist, T-Dubb-O, stated, “They place property over people and say we got a problem in St. Louis because a QuikTrip burned down. But no alchemist, no doctor, no wizard on this planet can bring back Mike Brown Jr.”
Likewise, in addressing the media’s focus on the riots in Minneapolis, Minneapolis City Council Member Phillipe Cunningham noted, “The media’s hyper-focus on the violent protests really pulls away from what is actually happening: the real stories of the trauma and the pain and the reason folks are doing the work…It’s distracting from the voices of the folks in the community.”
Had the mainstream media looked closer at the events in Ferguson, they may have seen that the presence of a militarized police force at peaceful vigils, demonstrations of grief, and direct actions was often the first instance of violence that exacerbated anger. Police would corner protesters to prohibit movement or order them to go home, even if they were standing in their own yards, in the guise of clearing the streets. Perhaps, as shown by the arrest of reporters Omar Jimenez in Minneapolis recently and of Wesley Lowery in Ferguson in 2014, police forces appear to have a vested interest in controlling not only the protesters on the ground, but also the narrative that emerges from the conflict.
I therefore wonder are we seeing all that happened and is happening in Minneapolis and all the other cities where protests are taking place? Or are we only seeing the violence and drama? Whose Streets? is a valuable resource, not only because it depicted what happened in Ferguson, but also because the parallels to today are so haunting. Another documentary, another story may reveal, in time, all that is happening in Minneapolis and elsewhere.
2) Are black protestors treated differently than white protestors? What shook me in Whose Streets? were the tanks, police officers in military gear holding assault weapons and snarling dogs, straining at the leash, circa 1963 Birmingham, confronting the residents on the streets of Ferguson, Missouri. A Ferguson resident, Dhoruba Shakur, shared the weapons he had collected on the street: shotgun shells, rubber bullets and a number of tear gas canisters. In another scene, as police push residents back, a woman cries, “This is not Iraq!”
On the other hand, we did not see police lined up in Charlottesville in 2017 when tiki-torch-bearing white nationalists, chanting, “Jews will not replace us,” marched on the grounds of the University of Virginia. Nor were officers present in the initial moments the following day when white nationalists clashed with protestors in what is now known as Market Street Park, formerly Lee Park.
Are these different circumstances, therefore prompting a different response? Or was the race of those who marched and protested a factor?
3) Are black victims painted as criminals to justify their death? One disturbing trend we see in many of these cases is the depiction of black victims as criminals. Michael Brown allegedly shoplifted at a local grocery store. George Zimmerman suggested Trayvon Martin was suspected of burglary, as was Philando Castile, who was pulled over. Ahmaud Arbery stopped to look at a house under construction. George Floyd allegedly passed a $20 counterfeit bill. For many of these cases, black citizens were beaten and/or killed for the most minor of offenses: selling unlicensed merchandise, a non-functioning brake light, running a stop sign. As though any of their actions or suspected actions would justify their dying under police custody or at the hands of a vigilante citizen.
These deaths are on all of us. We must do better. We need to educate ourselves on the facts, our history, laws and policies. We need to participate in the discussion and be part of the solution. We need to rid ourselves of the misperceptions we have and the discrimination that has been practiced for decades. We need to finally address the inequities in our judicial system so that this cycle of unwarranted killing of unarmed black citizens stops for good.
The following, albeit only a beginning, is a list of suggested resources:
12 Documentaries You Should Watch About Racism and Police Brutality in America, by Jason Bailey
12 Movies to Watch to Educate Yourself About Racism and Protest History, Recommended by Experts, by Cady Lang
Ten “Must Watch” Black History Documentaries, by PBS
9 movies and shows that explain how America’s justice system got this way, by Alissa Wilkinson
How to Make this Moment the Turning Point for Real Change, by Barack Obama
Being Antiracist, by the National Museum of African American History & Culture
An Antiracist Reading List, by Ibram X. Kendi.
Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man, by Emmanual Achos
Justice in June, by Bryanna Wallace and Autumn Gupta
An Essential Reading Guide for Fighting Racism, by Arianna Rebolini
Institutionalized Racism: A Syllabus, by Catherine Halley
Antiracism Resources, by Sarah Sophie Flicker and Alyssa Klein
31 Children’s books to support conversations on race, racism and resistance, by embracerace
Opportunities for White People in the Fight for Racial Justice, by Jonathan Osler
A Detailed List of Anti-Racism Resources, by Katie Couric
[1]Whose Streets? premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. It was directed by Sabaah Folayan and co-directed by Damon Davis. My youngest, Chris McNabb, edited the film.
[2]A list of unarmed African-Americans killed or who died in custody –many arrested for minor offenses -are memorialized in the song, Hell You Talmbout, written by Janelle Monae and the Wondaland artist collective in 2015. Whose Streets? used the part of the song referencing Michael Brown.