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DAVE CHAPPELLE: This man kneeled on a man's neck
for eight minutes and 46 seconds,
can you imagine that?
[Chants of George Floyd]
[Indistinct radio chatter]
[***]
ANCHORWOMAN 1: Louisville police shot and killed 26-year-old,
Breonna Taylor in her apartment
in what her family calls, “a botched drug raid”.
ANCHORWOMAN 2: Breonna Taylor was hit multiple times by gunfire
and died on scene.
ANCHORWOMAN 3: A 22-year-old, Stephon Clark
was shot and killed by the police
in his grandmother's backyard.
However, investigators found no weapons at the scene,
only an iPhone.
ANCHORWOMAN 4: Protesters clash with police over the deadly shooting
of Philando Castile, last Wednesday.
[Overlapping speech]
[***]
ANCHORMAN 1: As officers held him down on the ground...
ANCHORMAN 2: And they shot and killed him for it.
[***]
GEORGE FLOYD: I can't breathe! I can't move.
POLICE OFFICER 1: I've been waiting the whole--
[George grunting]
POLICE OFFICER 1: Get on-- get in the car!
-GEORGE FLOYD: Mama! -POLICE OFFICER 1: Get up!
POLICE OFFICER 1: And get in the car, right.
GEORGE FLOYD: I can't!
I'm claustrophobic.
-My stomach hurts. -POLICE OFFICER 1: Ahan.
My neck hurts.
Everything hurts.
[Whimpers]
Get some water or something.
Please, please!
[Floyd weeping]
MAN 1: Are you serious?
Bro, are you serious?
And you're gonna keep-- you gonna keep--
you gonna keep here,
you think about his neck?
Are you happy?
MAN 2: Justice.
CROWD: No peace.
MAN 2: No justice.
CROWD: No peace.
MAN 2: No justice.
CROWD: No peace.
MAN 2: No justice.
We're gonna try today.
We are a physical representation
of our support for George Floyd.
I'll tell you what freedom is to me: No fear.
I mean, really no fear.
If I-- If I could have that--
Half of my life, no fear.
That's what children-- have no fear.
That's a closest wa--
That's the only way I can describe it.
That's not all of it but it is something
to really, really feel.
CHUCK D: (Narrating) George Floyd,
a father, a brother, a son.
Another unarmed black man killed at the hands
of police.
In the midst of a global pandemic
and a chaotic presidency,
Americans got to see the ugly underbelly
of policing communities of color once again.
The circumstances are all too familiar,
officers escalating a situation
when it is not needed.
When I saw the video tape of the murder of uh,
brother George Floyd.
It filled me with a rage
and it reminded me of when I saw Oscar Grant's video,
his murder.
It reminded me when I saw Philando Castile--
It was like, enough is enough.
But it's been enough.
It's been ridic--
It's be beyond the pale of what any civilized society
should tolerate.
I think for a lot of us who have--
who have been involved in this for a while.
You know, it made us feel like we were looking
at a lynching.
Now, for people who-- who-- who hadn't slowed
their life down enough to see that.
I think they were shocked at what they were seeing.
Incomprehensible.
That-- that-- that something like that could happen.
I don't know about you personally,
but I hate to say it, it reminded me of some
of these older guys that I worked with at NPD.
It almost seemed as if he...
...enjoyed what he was doing
and you knew that it was wrong.
Yo, I'm sick to my stomach to think that--
you know, that something like that could just happen.
You know, over and over again.
You know, in this like, you know.
I mean, you don't get the right to kill somebody.
You don't get the right to abuse somebody.
But watching the video of George Floyd's death,
slow and painful, excruciating.
Uh, just was searing for me.
As I know it was for so many families across the country.
So many-- so many people of all colors
to watch somebody die in such a callous,
unfeeling way in slow motion.
To hear him calling out for his mom,
to say “I can't breathe”, it's not that he didn't try
to communicate, he was very clear about
what was happening to him.
And you just--
I think I as-- as millions of people around the country
and the world, just wondered what in the world
were those officers thinking
How could they be so careless about another
human being's life?
MAN 3: Today I have filed an amended complaint
that charges former Minneapolis officer,
Derek Chauvin with murder in a second degree
for the death of George Floyd.
Second, today, arrest warrants were issued
for former Minneapolis officers,
J.A Kueng,
Thomas Lane, and Tou Thau.
I can't watch that video.
I've seen so many murders now on camera.
What I can tell you is that the image that is imblazed
in behind my eyelids
is the one, where the officer is kneeling on his neck
and he's looking directly into the camera.
And he has his hand in his pocket as if
he's casually kneeling down to like, pick up a penny.
Any excuse that may rest in the conscious of anyone
that may have doubt as to George Floyd's fault
or participation in anything.
That had no legs to stand on.
Because he was not posing a threat.
He was there on the ground, really helpless.
And he still died.
All the times they've--
they've had police killings on video
And you know that they've had police killings
that weren't on video.
Uh, you know, there's always been bigger, worse.
But I think this one has packed up more powerful punch
because people were now at home.
You know, with nothing to do.
You know, no distractions.
CHUCK D: (Narrating) Seeing someone lose their life
for over nine minutes shakes the very core
of our humanity.
The disregard of an innocent life
adds to that despair.
ALICIA: I think there was a few things that came into focus
in this moment that have created the conditions
where we are now.
So, you know for a month or so prior to
the George Floyd's murder.
We had a lockdown.
People were in their homes, who could be in their homes.
And connecting with each other through screens
in a completely different way.
So, that's a part of it, right.
We're starting to see into every aspect
of people's intimate lives
and also glued to the television
or to our screens to better understand
what we can do to protect ourselves
against a plague, if you will.
That-- the president was calling “a liberal hoax”,
from the very beginning.
Then you couple that with Ahmaud Arbery's murder.
So I think people were already like--
First of all, how are we just seeing this and this happened
you know, a month prior to getting this video.
And the people still haven't been charged.
And then all this stuff comes out about them,
about what they believe, right.
And then, of course, you see this video.
I think what actually happened is that
there's a muscle memory that people have now
around police violence and protest.
So, it's not the first time this has happened.
And it's not, um, uh.
It's not new to us.
But I think over the last seven years,
we now have a consciousness that it's not enough
to just watch it and be upset about it.
That coupled with four years of a president
who has literally opened the sewer grids
and told white nationalists to come up out of the sewer
and come be a part of our society.
Be a part of our government.
I think all of those things have collided in such a way
where people now-- It's not just people
turning up about police brutality & police violence
You notice like--
you can't spin this story any other way.
Who comes out when there's protests, white militias.
Who's driving through crowds in protests,
white nationalists,
who are unabashed about their point of view.
And who have the cover of the federal government.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Go home, we love you, you're very special.
You've seen what happens, you see the way others
are treated that are so bad and so evil.
I know how you feel.
My whole life's work, um, has been about
trying to figure how do we keep black people
from experiencing the worst of the system
while we are at the same time still experiencing
an unbroken history of white supremacy,
racial hierarchy, and state violence.
I mean, I'm part of a black church.
I argued a black church has 400 years
of receipts.
[Chuckles]
Of dispend, of fighting
against white supremacy everyday.
Everyday black pope in church wakes up,
Everyday black folk in church wakes up,
* I testified, my mama cried *
* Black people died when the other man lied *
* See the TV, listen to me, double trouble *
* I overhaul and I'm coming from the lower level *
* I'm taking tabs, sho nuff, stuff to grab *
* Like shirts and it hurts with a neck to wreck *
* Took a poll 'cause our soul took a toll *
* From the education of a TV station *
Hands up, don't shoot!
Hands up--
[indistinct shouting]
Shut 'em down, shut 'em, shut 'em down
I shut 'em down
Shut 'em down, shut 'em, shut 'em down
I shut 'em down
Shut 'em, shut 'em, shut 'em down
I shut 'em down
Shut 'em down, shut 'em, shut 'em down
I shut 'em down
Shut 'em down, shut 'em, shut 'em down
I shut 'em down
Shut 'em, shut 'em, shut 'em down
I shut 'em down
Shut 'em, shut 'em, shut 'em down
I shut 'em down
Shut 'em, shut 'em, shut 'em down
I shut 'em down
Shut 'em, shut 'em, shut 'em down
[indistinct shouting]
[***]
CHUCK D: (Narrating) The slow murder of George Floyd forever changed
a city with a history of excessive use of force.
It changed America, and it shocked the world.
A nation in crisis.
Our cities have burned.
Lives have been taken.
The voice of the oppressed rise up when those
voices go unheard.
[***]
So when they say, “Why do you burn down the community,
why do you burn down your own neighborhood?”
It's not ours.
We don't own anything!
There is-- Trevor Noah said it so beautifully last night
There's a social contract that we all have.
That if you steal or if I steal,
then the person who is the authority comes in,
and they fix the situation.
But the person who fixes the situation is killing us!
So the social construct is broken!
[***]
CHUCK D: (Narrating) A movement started less than a decade ago,
takes front stage once again.
It seems like it was only yesterday
when the streets of America were filled yp
with similar protests and outrage
from the killings of Oscar Grant, Michael Brown,
Philando Castile, Alton Sterling,
Eric Garner, Stephon Clark,
LaQuan McDonald, and Sandra Bland.
This time it was different.
But why?
DR. TAFT: I think there are a couple of things.
I think the first thing um, that I would say is
we have a generational devide or should I say,
a generation of uprise.
If you think about Trayvon Martin in 2012.
Those teenagers, and um--
Let's say, young people that are not protesting.
Let's say, if they are 22, 21 years of age.
They were 13 years of age when that happened.
And they were already accustomed
to being on their devices.
And they probably had questions then.
And now, after the string of event from Trayvon Martin to
um Michael Brown, to Eric Garner,
to Philando Castile
to Walter Scott, to Jordan Davis--
no to LaQuan McDonald.
You know, the list continues-- Alton Sterling.
The list goes on and on.
At some point, I think as a 13-year-old
you may ask the questions.
But now, as you begin to live and--
Maybe your cognitive reasoning is developing.
You begin to ask questions because you're outside
of your parents' home.
And now, you're thinking for yourself.
And so maybe, you're saying that maybe something
is wrong.
So I think that, there-- there are questions that
are unanswered.
ALICIA: I didn't know what I wanted to do in four years
of college.
I was like “I just wanna help people.
And I wanna, you know, make my community better.”
So, when I was done with college, I came home
and decided to make an impact where I live.
And I learned actually how to organize
and build power here on the streets of-- of Oakland.
I started knocking on doors, uh, talking with people
with an organization that had initially started by fighting
police brutality and police violence.
Uh, 10 years of organizing in San Francisco.
You know, five or six years of organizing here in Oakland
and at a certain point, I felt it was important
to get a clear sense of what the landscape
was nationally.
Uh, it's fine to be a big fish in a small pond,
but there's a lot you miss
about the way that the world works
and the way the country works.
I joined an organization
that organizes domestic workers.
These are women who clean homes,
who care for the people that we care the most.
My mother and my grandmother did domestic work.
And um, it was a few short weeks before I joined that
organization that I helped create Black Lives Matter.
[Chuckles]
ALICIA: No, I did not know, that Black Lives Matter
would become the force that it is today.
Although, I-- I certainly wanna say that
it was something that I wished for but couldn't see
beyond my own faith that it could happen
and my own determination that we should try it.
We should try to figure out, how to create the kind of
movement that could actually have impact for black folks.
Um, Patrisse, and Opal, and I,
when we created Black Lives Matter,
we started building platforms for people who were angry
about Trayvon being murdered
and his killer being acquitted.
And we wanted people to do something more than
be angry on social media.
We wanted people to do more, than like argue
with each other about whether or not
it was racist on social media.
Because at the end of the day, that kind of liking,
retweeting, sharing, arguing back and forth
with somebody you've never met
doesn't change policy, it doesn't change culture.
It doesn't change the fact that
mothers all over this country, um,
are dealing with deep loses as a result of our failure
to actually deal with,
what it means to keep our communities safe
uh, and who-- who is responsible for that.
There have been protests happening all over the globe,
more protests then the whole last period of civil race.
And here we are, and you can't get anybody
at the top of the ticket to acknowledge that
all around them, people are turned up about the fact
that black people are being left out and left behind.
CHUCK D: (Narrating) There have been many protests against police brutality
and systemic racism in America's history.
Some protests were a result of a community
overwhelmed by the actions of law enforcement
and the lack of accountability
in the criminal justice system.
ANCHORMAN 3: The only persons on the streets of Miami's riot
are police, looters and torchmen
setting dozens of fires that are now burning
out of control.
There are people being beaten, there is looting.
It is a dangerous night in the city of Los Angeles.
CHUCK D: (Narrating) Today's protests have come in many forms.
From everyday citizens taking to the streets,
to activists launching social media campaigns.
Modern day athletes have leveraged their influence
in exercising their right to protest peacefully,
putting their livelihood and safety on the line.
I mean, ultimately it's to bring awareness
and make people now realize what's really going on
in this country.
There are a lot of things that are going on
that are unjust,
people aren't being held accountable for.
And that's something that needs to change.
That's something that know this country stands for
freedom, liberty, justice for all.
And it's not happening for all right now.
ANCHORMAN 4: Colin Kaepernick, he actually told a group of reporters
yesterday that he's received death threats..
Everybody.
And I mean, everybody can give back.
It's our duty to help our neighbors.
Walter Payton Smith, Tyler, my coach
which in turn ended up having a stronger impact on me.
Motivated me, to try to have an impact on the world.
We should all be start to be more like Walter Payton.
Thank you, God bless.
[Audience cheering and applauding]
And we grew up in Denver
which is not a predominately black area.
The one thing I learned to do at a young age
is I learn that some people are perceiving me
as dangerous.
So I was taught that, you know, “Hey,
people might see you as a threat.”
So, like, I-- I naturally started putting
on a big smile as soon as I see anybody.
We flash a smile, let them know that
I'm a friendly person.
But, you know, I just I feel like that issue
when it comes to, you know, police brutality
a lot of it is deep rooted in the stigma
of what a black person represents.
The idea of the constitution, the idea of-- of America
is special.
The problem is, is that America has never really
lived up to the constitution as a whole
not for everybody that lives in America, you know.
And I tell about--
I tell people I'm proud to be American, you know,
I grew up American and I have no problem
with being an American.
I wanna be American, I'm proud to be American.
But America needs to do better for its people,
you know, and-- and-- and it's a real issue.
[***]
MICHAEL: Um, when I was a student at Bible College in 1999,
I was physical and sexually assaulted by police officers.
So I was a victim of police brutality
while I was attending Bible College to be trained
as a minister.
And that trauma, that sexual and physical trauma
at the hands of the police officers really forced me
to have to have my own internal reckoning
with how will I use my own call
in my mission, as a-- as a man of God,
as a minister, as a community leader
to dismantle these systems and that's what my work
has been for the last 20 or so years.
Well obviously, after it happened to me
I was devastated, I was living with my pastor
at the time at in San Jose
and on my way home, two officers pulled me over,
pulled me out my car, grabbed my groin area,
did a pretty much strip search on me with a gun.
Uh, you know, trained on me and told me if I was black,
they'd throw--
If I was in Alabama in 1950,
they'd throw me in empty field.
One of ‘em said he was gonna break my effin' neck.
So, I came out of that experience with wounds
in my body that I still see today
from the handcuffs to bruises.
Um, my spirit was deeply broken and traumatized.
I was asking God why this happened to me, you know,
I'm out here,
on my way to heaven and oh, so glad, you know.
But my young people told me um, in our Bible studies
some weeks later this happened to them
all the time.
ANCHORWOMAN 5: In the 50 shot killing of Sean Bell,
the unarmed man on his wedding day.
They were seriously wounded in the hail of gunfire.
The shooting incident sparked strong reactions
throughout the city, leading up to--
VALERIE: Sean was my middle son,
his gift from God was to play baseball
and also to be electrician.
About, maybe a quarter to 4:00, I get a phone call
saying, Sean was in an accident.
So, the first thing I thought,
okay, maybe a car accident because he was the driver
in the car.
So I'm jumping up, getting ready
get to Jamaica Hospital, that's where I used to work.
And when they escorted me, I'm seeing a lot of people
outside the hospital.
When they escorted me to this room in the hospital
I knew, that was a room that was gonna tell me
something bad has happened to our son.
Hearing 50 shots at his car...
ANCHORWOMAN 6: November 25th, 2006,
as he was leaving his bachelor party
with two friends.
ANCHORMAN 5: You have Sean Bell, he's gonna get married,
they're at a strip club and there are undercover officers
in the strip club who think they hear that
someone has a gun.
They go outside and there's like a confrontation,
Bell's in the car and 50 shots.
VALERIE: Like I said, that was the most horrific day,
horrible day of my life.
But I continued!
That day I couldn't believe.
Thinking that the wedding was supposed to be that night,
7:00 p.m. at La Bella Vita.
Going to the beauty parlor, still thinking,
I'm going to a wedding.
In void, in disbelief...
...knowing what happened to my son.
ANCHORMAN 6: Prosecutors said, Sean Bell died needlessly
at the hands of reckless New York City detectives,
but the defense strategy was to discredit the civilian
eye witnesses, one by one.
To portray the surviving victims as lying opportunists
and the detectives as the only honorable,
reliable witnesses.
VALERIE: During that time, hearing everything.
April 25th, 2008.
I'm thinking, “Okay, the judge is gonna say,
guilty, guilty”,
‘cause some things judge said, I could believe
that was against the officers.
No, after everything was said and done,
not guilty.
ANCHORWOMAN 7: Bell's family, the bitterness over the trial's outcome
will most likely not fade away anytime soon.
Hundreds of people spent the day outside
the courthouse in Kew Gardens today.
Many supporting the family, some so overcome by
emotion, they collapsed in the street--
[Overlapping speech]
This sends a message to New York City police officers,
that when you were in that position,
when you were on front of that broad bench,
that you will get fairness.
How do I spell relief?
N-O-T-G-U-I-L-T-Y.
Not guilty.
Judge's DAs, police department all work
hand in hand.
And that's something that needs to be stopped.
[***]
CHUCK D: (Narrating) Driving While Black, a phrase all too familiar
amongst African Americans.
Deadly traffic stop encounters between
Black men and women and police are too commonplace.
These tragic deaths usually end in the acquittal
of officers, or no charges at all.
[***]
Hello, sir.
Good, how are you?
PHILANDO: Good.
Uh, reason I pulled you over, you--
Your brake lights are out.
So you only have one activator--
Active brake light, that could be your past--
your side one
and your third brake light which is up here on top.
And then this one back here is gonna be our.
You have your license and insurance?
PHILANDO: Sir, I have to tell you I do have a firearm on me.
Okay, okay, don't reach for it then.
PHILANDO: I'm not pulling it out.
Don't pull it out!
[Philando screams]
CHUCK D: (Narrating) Philando Castile,
a 32-year-old school nutritionist
is shot and killed by former officer Jeronimo Yanez.
DIAMOND: We got pulled over for a busted taillight in the back
and the police just-- he's covered
He just killed my boyfriend,
he's licensed, he's carry-- he's licensed to carry,
he was trying to get out his id and his wallet
out his um, pocket.
And he let the officer know that he was rea--
He had a firearm and he was reaching for his wallet.
And the officer just shot in his arm.
CHUCK D: (Narrating) His death is filmed and streamed live
all over the world,
as his girlfriend and a 4 year-old daughter,
watch him die.
JACKIE: Philando did nothing wrong.
This man said, I have-- you know, a license to carry
and he went to get his-- his documents
and he's shot five times.
Like, why?
CHUCK D: (Narrating) Court records dating back to 2002 showed that
Philando averaged more than three traffic stops per year.
My name is John Choi, and I have the great honor
of being able to serve the people
of Ramesy County Minnesota as their elected county attorney
which includes the-- the city of St. Paul
and the surrounding suburbs.
I was first elected in 2010 and uh, so, I've been
in office since that time.
In many instances, what I see happening
in deadly force cases is that the officer actually
created uh, this situation by not following
their training.
There are many cases across America where--
If the officer acted differently.
If they didn't assume that everybody around them
was some deadly threat to them.
That we would have very, very, different outcomes.
You know, the Tamir Rice case
in Cleveland strikes a chord where that particular officer
created that situation.
And they didn't have to end up shooting that boy.
The case in my jurisdiction involving Philando Castile,
the same thing where he has all of these assumptions
and he raced towards using deadly force
when he didn't have to.
Everything was telling him that he didn't have to.
There was a young child, a 4-year-old child
in that car.
There was a woman with Philando Castile in that car.
Why on earth would any human being shoot an officer
in that particular situation?
And the way that Philando disclosed
beyond what the law ever required him to do,
but he said, “Sir, I have to tell you,
that I d- I do have a firearm on me.”
He said it that way.
In the most disarming way.
And for some reason, the officer raced
to the conclusion that he was about to be shot.
Philando Castile, if I remember in Minnesota.
I believe he was pulled over 35 or 40 times
and many of those were because there was a warrant
for his arrest.
Which sounds terrible
But actually the warrant was for an unpaid court fee.
Yanez, the Minnesota police officer who fatally shot
Philando Castile during a traffic stop has been found
not guilty of all three charges including
2nd degree manslaughter.
ANCHORWOMAN 8: Jurors found Yanez was reasonable
in his decision to shoot.
The jury also found him not guilty in two other counts
of endangering Philando Castile's girl-friend,
Diamond Reynolds and her child.
CHUCK D: (Narrating) Hours after a jury acquitted Yanez, Philando's mother,
Valerie Castile, led protesters,
shutting down parts of the city.
The chant of “Philando, Philando” rang out
as they marched down the highway
in the dark of night.
What is it gonna take?
I'm mad as hell, right now.
Yes, I am.
My firstborn one son dead, here in Minnesota.
Under the circumstances,
just because he was a police officer
that makes it okay.
Oh, now they got free reign.
He's found innocent on all counts.
He's shot into a car with no regards to human life.
And that's okay?
Thank you, Minnesota.
CHUCK D: (Narrating) Yanez was allowed to resign from the force,
only to take another law enforcement job
in another city.
Today's stories are anything but a recent phenomenon.
FRANK: I was asked to volunteer as kind of a statistical
consultant for a state-wide task force to look
at traffic stops.
And it turns out, the state of North Carolina
was the first state in the nation to mandate
collecting data on every traffic stop.
But nobody had ever looked at it.
Five years later, seven years later I think,
we published a book and finally got our hands around,
it was very difficult to work with,
but-- well, the initial findings were that um--
a black man has about twice the odds of being pulled over
compared to a white man.
And once they're pulled over, they've got about twice
the odds of being searched after a routine traffic stop.
And the experience of an African-American
in North Carolina is, you know,
it's the four times more likely just by getting
in the car, that you're--
that that drive down the street
is gonna lead to a search of the vehicle.
Now, search of the vehicle implies that
the police officer has determined for some reason
in his mind that you-- you pose a potential threat.
That you are a suspect in a-- in a--
some kind of criminal proceeding,
‘cause if you're merely speeding
or you ran through a stop sign,
that doesn't mean that the officer needs
to search your car.
It's humiliating, it's alienating,
it can cost a lot of money.
I mean, there's all kinds of things that can happen
associated with what we think of as a routine
traffic stop.
[***]
WAYNE: Oh, man, I'm scared as hell.
You were just stopped what, a month ago?
Two months ago?
[Overlapping speech]
Yeah. I mean, I'm-- I'm just scared
you know, and I'm not--
my license is legit, my car has ins-- inspected,
I'm not riding dirty.
You know, but it's just that
thing that goes through you when you know
you're being stopped.
And you know, he's like,
“Well, why are you so nervous?”
Why-- why not?
You know, when you-- when you--
when you look at the news on TV
and see the you know, things that are going on,
yeah, I'm nervous.
[***]
New video tonight of an officer involved shooting
in Vallejo, it is disturbing.
You hear the moment when six officers open fire
at a Taco Bell Drive-Thru, killing a local rapper.
MAN 4: Yo, that's like fucking seven cops out here.
They just blocked the Drive-Thru.
OFFICER 1: Gun, gun!
MAN 4: The guy over there doesn't wanna come out,
I don't know why.
OFFICER 1: There's a gun in his lap.
I'm gonna bust that fucking window.
OFFICER 2: Alright, car's locked, he's passed out,
but the car is in drive, uh, we need another unit.
Keep your hands in the air!
OFFICER 1: Hands up, hands up!
ANCHORMAN 7: And as you see here, here is the car in the Drive-Thru
during this welfare check.
Police pull in front and behind the car.
The driver fast asleep during this time.
And then police realized he has a gun on his lap.
OFFICER 1: No, he's not getting up.
He's not up yet.
[Indistinct speech]
POLICE OFFICER 2: David, we shot fires--
Cross fire, cross fire!
Let me see your hands, let me see your hands!
Put your hands up!
All officers are okay.
Start code 3 medic.
WOMAN 1: (On radio) Copied now, medic is en route code 3 at this time.
All units are okay.
CHUCK D: (Narrating) Willie McCoy,
a 20-year old aspiring rapper
is tragically shot and killed by police
while sleeping in his car.
55 rounds by six officers surrounding
his car were fired,
killing him instantly.
ADANTÉ: Murder.
Pure, unequivocal murder.
These are officers who are supposed to be there
to protect and serve.
So, the-- the lens that they should be looking
at through is, “What is going on with this person?
Why are they unconscious?
Is this a medical emergency?"
And if it's not and the brother just fell asleep
whether he's intoxicated, he's drunk or whatever
it might be, or he's tired from work.
I mean, that's also--
[Chuckles]
a way to look at this.
Somebody needs help, instead they came with
a punitive, criminalistic perspective which is,
this is a criminal.
And then they can't claim the idea that there was a gun
which you can't see in the video
and they claim that it's a gun.
But before that, what' very crucial to understand is that
they had already communicated
what their intent was.
If he moves...
[Clicks tongue]
ADANTÉ: We're taking him out.
CHUCK D: (Narrating) His death is all too common in a town
with a notorious record of police violence
against young Black men and women.
[***]
More deaths and shootings against
unarmed black and brown citizens.
The list goes on and on.
ANCHORMAN 8: The officers thought the SUV the pair has just
gotten out of was stolen.
Well, police say they're looking into what happened,
but deny any kind of racial profil...
I've been drinking.
Okay.
I don't-- I don't care about-- I can walk home!
I just don't wanna be in violation of anybody.
I can walk my-- my sister's house is right here.
POLICE OFFICER 3: Why don't you let me take a breath test for me.
-Yes, I will. -Okay.
Just wait right here while I get it.
ALTON'S FAMILY MEMBER: The individuals involved in his murder
took away a man with children who depended upon
their daddy on a daily basis.
ANCHORMAN 9: Judy Scott, the victim's mother
clutched a picture of him in court today.
She turned to Slager and said, “I forgive you.”
Slager began to cry.
He told the court, “With my actions that day,
Walter Scott is no longer with his family
and I am responsible for that.”
CHUCK D (V.O): There is a stark difference in the way that
law enforcement deals with traffic stops
in other communities
where officers have de-escalated the situation
or used non-deadly force.
[Overlapping speech]
Ow!
Ow, fuck!
[***]
ANCHORMAN 10: It's remarkable to see how the officer remained polite
to the woman even as she disrespected him.
[Indistinct speech]
CHUCK D: (Narrating) Black communities historically
have a deep-rooted fear of being treated unfairly
by police.
ANCHORMAN 11: Three of the accused officers were acquitted of all charges
as the jury hopelessly deadlocked on one charge
of excessive force on the color of.
MAN 5: Four policemen did it.
Four policemen violated the law, let's deal with that.
MAN 6: The anger is all over this nation--
If this kind of event could happen to Rodney King
All of our lives, those of us who stand here
this morning could have been in that same position
that he was in.
CHUCK D: (Narrating) The history of the police started in colonial times
before the founding of the United States.
For 400 years black people have been criminalized
by policing.
Based on America's slavery past,
slave patrols served as police for plantation owners.
As America began to form,
laws supporting use of force were created
and woven into our constitution.
In 1667, it was written into the law
for the state of Virginia by Anglican men.
So, Christian men.
Because the debate was
whether slaves or enslaved Africans
could be proselytize.
Because if they were proselytized,
it was customary according to Anglican tradition
that Anglican and Christian brothers and sisters
could not enslave one another.
So if that's the standard of practice
that says, when you come to enslave Africans,
you don't recognize their humanity nor do you see
them as, if they are baptized and welcomed into the faith,
they are not your brothers and sisters in Christ.
CHUCK D: (Narrating) Between 1840 and the early 1900s,
policing was under tight control
of the political elite.
The communities most targeted by harsh policing tactics
were recent European immigrants.
As African-Americans fled the horrors
of the Jim Crow south,
they too became the victims of brutal
and punitive policing in the northern cities
where they sought refuge.
6 Million black people fled to northern cities
in the Great Migration
yet the racism by police continued
based on bias limiting Black people's civil rights.
My people come here from Texas,
and from North Carolina
If you were a black in the Bay Area,
you'd came from South.
Why did you come from the South?
Because in the ‘40s, the ‘50s, and the ‘60s,
our parents and grand-parents were fleeing
the violence of the Ku Klux Klan
and racist police.
And they got on a train
and took the train to the last stop
to get as far away from these white vigilantes
in the South.
And the last stop was the West--
West Open train station.
That's how a lot of black people came here
Came here to work on the naval shipyard in Oakland.
Hunters Point Shipyard.
So black people come here from the South fleeing
racial violence.
My father grew up in Alabama.
And he had several horrible experiences with the police.
And he would often talk about that.
He didn't talk about them with the hope that
we would hate the police.
He spoke about them to explain to us
where he came from.
The environment that he grew up in,
why he left Alabama, how he came to New Jersey,
and what motivated him to make sure that his family
would do better.
[Protesters clapping]
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR: We cannot turn back.
There are those who are asking the devotees
of civil rights: “When will you be satisfied?”
We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro
is the victim of the unspeakable horrors
of police brutality.
[Protesters clapping]
FRANK: People who live in poverty and people of color
have experienced a set of relations with the criminal
justice system that people who look like me,
and people who live in my neighborhood,
and people who have professional jobs,
and who are white can't even understand.
We can't even empathize, because we can't even
possibly conceive of a police officer
who to me would never be disrespectful
or unpleasant.
How that police officer might behave differently
on the other side of town.
Or with a person who fits a different profile.
This is the stuff that's been happening for years,
for decades.
And members of the black community have been saying
that this has been happening.
With the increase in--
in phone cameras, uh with body cameras
uh, people are seeing the truth, people are seeing
what black communities had always known
is that there are a large of very abusive officers.
And so um, we're finally seeing the stories that
we've been told.
[Screams]
Back up, back the fuck up!
[***]
According to Kentucky law, the use of force
by Mattingly and Cosgrove was justified
to protect themselves.
This justification bars us from pursuing
criminal charges in Miss Breonna Taylor's death.
Please don't be too nice.
Like when you guys put somebody in the car
and you're protecting their head, you know.
The way you put the hand over...
Like, don't hit their head and they've just killed
somebody, don't hit their head.
I said, “You can take the hand away, okay?”
[Crowd cheering]
ANCHORWOMAN 9: Officer Edward Nero, has been acquitted of all charges
for his role in the 25-year-old black man's death.
A police officer was found not guilty in the shooting
death of a black driver.
VICTIM'S SISTER: You know, my brother had no gun, no gun.
Why couldn't you just be a man and said,
“I made a mistake.”
No mistakes made
If we look at the Laquan McDonald's shooting,
uh shooting.
In Laquan McDonald, we saw uh, eventually
that the officer was lying.
That there were lies in reports.
But the police department hid that, the government hid that
from the people, from the defense attorneys.
It required some uh, professors
from the University of Chicago
to force that material out and into the public.
CHUCK D: (Narrating) Today's political climate has carried on the tradition
of protecting those police officers
who have been accused of excessive use of force.
The killing of Breonna Taylor by undercover police
is another example.
[***]
RUDY GIULIANI: Well, as the President pointed it out
and as we all know I think, logic.
99% if not more of the police
con-- contact with public is a-- is a problem.
CHUCK D (V.O): The policies of local, state and federal governments
have made policing harder than ever.
Many young officers join the force with good intentions.
Some end up poorly trained and negatively influenced
by their superiors in a culture of intimidation
and protecting their own.
This results in escalation between law enforcement
and the communities they serve.
In Washington DC, the nation's capital,
where our country's laws are created,
and democracy and equal rights
under the law are the foundation
of our criminal justice system,
Metropolitan Police Department is a prime example
of bad training and a outdated culture.
The agency has had a history of excessive use of force,
over-policing, and dehumanizing stop
and frisk policies.
This culture has made it hard to train
and keep young officers
with the potential to make a positive change.
My dad was a police officer with DC for about 30 years.
I was never pushed by him to become one
but as time went on and I got older, I-- I decided it was
something that I was interested in doing.
You know, when I first started
everyone was kind of motivated and you know,
we're gonna--
we're gonna do some good here, but as time went on
there was so much pressure coming from the top
to get these stats
I mean, we were making on average 8 to 10 arrests
a day and we worked five days a week.
Sean Lojacono has been fighting to keep his job
as a DC police officer.
Today we learned DC Police aren't having it.
You may remember this video,
we first showed you last year.
RADIO DISPATCHER: 38, 56.
[Overlapping speech]
Why are you grabbing my shit?
Come on, man.
[Overlapping speech]
BYSTANDER: Yeah, don't do that.
SEAN: You see the video and you're like,
“What the hell is this, this is horrible.”
That's how I learned to search like that
it was from the officers, because you know,
as a rookie officer you're very timid,
so when you get out on a street,
you're searching people.
You don't really get that much training
on how to search.
In fact, I made the argument in my trial board.
There was no simulation
for how to conduct a proper search.
You know, it was basically like, there's no wrong
or right way to do, just make sure it's thorough.
It's not like I take pleasure in that.
If they didn't keep it there,
I-- I-- I wouldn't search it, I wouldn't search there.
But, uh, you know, unfortunately, that's--
that's the nature of the beast when it comes to drugs
and drug dealing.
Um, because they know most officers
don't wanna check there,
because it's a very uncomfortable private spot.
Obviously, as you saw from the video,
he was very uncomfortable and felt very violated
and uh, you know, we ended up leaving,
he didn't get arrested.
And he filed a complaint.
We're tired of being harassed every single day,
because you think...
I'm talking about the officers here.
...you think that there's more going on.
Then what's going on?
There's nothing going on, but a group of guys enjoying
their community.
It was investigated by the department
and I was in-- I was cleared for that incident.
I-- believe it or not, they-- they gave me a--
what's called, “a Letter of Prejudice.”
It's a small corrective action letter,
basically saying, “Hey, you know,
you should've done better, and you should've--
you should've just arrested him for drinking in public.
So--
[Chuckles]
Not only did they say, “Hey everything about that search
was okay, but
you shouldn't have used your discretion
and you should have arrested him for some petty
little offence.”
REPORTER 1: Although, Lojacono was disciplined for this search,
the department ultimately moved to fire him
for a second similar search
caught on body-worn camera video
but not publically available.
Lojacono's defense argued the department's
decision to fire him was a knee jerk reaction
to the public outrage over that viral cell-phone video
we first showed you a year ago.
The attorney telling the panel, they understand
the department's position,
but Lojacono should not be the fall guy.
I mean I was, you know, certainly stunned.
Um, caught off guard for sure and uh, felt--
felt very betrayed by the department.
For sure.
It's probably not the popular answer, but
I stand by what I did on that day.
That's how I was trained and if I was told differently
I-- I-- I would be the first person
to do it differently.
If this is a problem,
what steps have you taken to rectify the fact that
there are dozens of people now, sitting in jail
on drug charges as a direct result of my searches
which have been consistent across the board
and you're-- you've now decided that
that's an improper search.
So, to me that's signaling all of those cases
should be re-looked at.
There is this thing that we call the proximity rule.
And what it means is that the person that is closest
to the error, or the thing that is closest to the error
normally gets blamed for-- for-- in totality.
Uh, I have to dispute that, because what ends up
happening and what we know to be true,
is that the officer is usually a result
of a lot of problems that went wrong
and now that is being acted out in that
officer's performance.
The training of police officers
whether it was military police officers,
when I was an army prosecutor
or the many, many, law enforcement officers
and agencies I worked with as a federal prosecutor in D.C.
And it's not just
the Metropolitan Police Department, MPD.
They are the local crime fighters in the district
and you know, different agencies I think um,
have different abilities when it comes to training
their officers.
I've seen the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Just like most of the police officers I worked with
in my career were good, they took their oath seriously.
They were there to protect and serve.
But boy, the bad ones.
You know, I've always said it,
it's not like one bad apple
that you can pick out of a barrel
and enjoy the rest of the apples.
It's like-- it's like a drop of poison
in a pot of chili.
CHUCK D: (Narrating) Becoming a police officer has long been considered
a noble and selfless profession.
Police officers have been held in high esteem,
however, over time that has changed.
Policing today has become more dangerous
and challenging.
Putting their lives at risk,
we have seen police officers' heroic efforts
time and time again.
The work of police has helped keep many communities safe.
ANCHORMAN 12: Phoenix police officers just respond just moments
after a man crashes into a tree and is trapped inside
his burning SUV.
ANCHORWOMAN 10: A Texas police officer who used to work
in the Houston area is a survivor
of the Las Vegas shooting.
A piece of shrapnel struck his hand.
ANCHORMAN 13: But that did not stop him from saving lives.
ANCHORWOMAN 11: Started on Sunday, there was someone reporting that
a man was threatening to jump
But News6 reporter Clay LePard spoke with the deputy
and they were-- bring that man down safely.
ANCHORMAN 14: Tonight, new video of Denver Police responding
to a “shots fired” call when one officer is hit
that wounded officer is dragged behind a car
as a fellow officer stands watch with a rifle.
But seconds later, the suspect opens fire again.
The second officer goes down.
Police returned fire.
ANCHORMAN 15: Watch, how the officer who first sees the gun,
has the presence of mind to fall backwards
out of harm's way while keeping his firearm
trained on asking.
He squeezes the trigger several times.
You want help?
Here I am, in front of you.
No coincidences.
I'm here to help you.
I'm gonna step down.
I'm not trying--
I'm not fittin' to rush you at all.
I just wanna--
Come here, man.
ANCHORMAN 16: That's when all hell breaks loose.
No!
He pulls a gun on the officer.
[Screaming]
She begged for her life.
POLICE OFFICER 4: No! No, please don't shoot me!
ANCHORMAN 17: An officer pursues, the man with the machete
then turns back and starts to chase the officer.
POLICE OFFICER 4: Hey, don't do it! Don't do it!
ANCHORMAN 17: As the man pushes forward, the machete still in hand.
The officer runs into the street, trips and falls
with the armed man standing over him.
Several other officers open fire.
[***]
CHUCK D: (Narrating) The demands of the job are stressful.
Long shifts, encounters with violent offenders,
it can be a thankless job.
Growing up, uh,
my interactions with police officers have changed.
I've had the opportunity to make some really good friends
You know, we go on the road.
And uh, we travel with police officers.
I've had a lot of good conversations with--
with officers and I--
I try to understand just how hard their job--
when you are tasked with a force of protectin'
and servin'.
You're gonna go on and face some danger
and you have to always be ready, because
they have families-- they have--
they are regular people.
You know, they have a tough job.
But then, you know, looking back
on some of the videos and things that happened
And uh, and I'm just thinking myself like, “How--
How does that happen?”
You know, uh, uh, like a Walter Scott video.
My man is running away, he was shot at the back.
To me, I feel like a cop, his main job is to
make sure that environments are safe
and that's a-- that's a tough duty and that's great.
But my man gets pulled over for a tail light
and you know, there is interaction
and all we know what we see on the video.
And we see him running away and he gets shot in the back.
You know, multiple times.
And it's like, Well--
I think the court system should have some say
in this.”
I think that whatever he did wrong, could have the chance
to go in front of the jury and be held at trial
and let the court system, you know do what it does.
Now, a lot of times, the court system
has failed black people as well.
But I rather be failed by the court system than
be shot in the back.
There has to be like-- When is force necessary?
JONATHAN: So, I wanted to become a police officer,
because when I was a young uh, teenager, I--
I recall sitting on the front steps of my home
with my-- my brother.
Uh, and we were-- we lived on a very quiet street.
But with-- within earshot,
was pretty busy street, you know.
Majority African-American neighborhood.
Uh, we had seen, you know. the police frequently
in our neighborhood.
But on this particular day, our friends were walking
down the street.
Uh, they passed our house and we saw them wave
and you know, nothing-- No greater conversation
than that.
But shortly after they passed us,
A police car uh, pulled up on them.
Police car pulled up on them.
Got out of the-- Officers got out of the car.
They were two white officers.
Began to verbally abuse my friends,
my brother and I, and my cousins
actually were with me, too.
We were staying there trying to figure out
what was going on.
Uh, as the conversation continued with the police
and-- and my friends.
Uh, we could see that everyone was agitated
up to a point where the police officer slapped
and assaulted my friends.
Now I'm sitting there with my cousins-- my cousins
and my brother and we felt completely powerless.
So we watched this interaction.
And it ended up where no one got arrested,
The-- the-- our friends weren't placed in the car
and the police left the scene.
But it left this indelible mark on me.
Looking at the situation, again feeling powerless
for my self, but also feeling that
I couldn't do anything to uh-- to help my friends.
I recalled at that point that my father in the driveway
a little bit further up working on the car.
So I ran to him and I had tears in my eyes.
And I said, “Dad, I have to tell you what just happened.”
And I went through the whole story
and I explained to him what went on and--
and the friends getting slapped
and the powerless feeling and I said to him that
somebody's gotta do something about this.
And my father at that point was working on the car,
was fixing the oil and he-- and he slowly closed the hood
and he wiped the oil off his hands
and he looked at me and he said,
“When God gets you to the point
where you feel that someone has to do something about it,
you are the someone and the something,
well, that's for you to figure out."
At that point, I knew that I had to go
to the police department.
And in my mind I thought I could fix all the ills
of a bad police performance by joining
the police department.
But I knew at that point that that's what I needed to do.
CHUCK D: (Narrating) Today's police force looks very different
from one of decades ago.
There is more diversity in its ranks,
more leaders who are black and brown.
Many of them call to make a change in their community.
While cities across America struggle with reform,
some communities and law enforcement leaders
have started to embrace the changes being called for.
CHIEF BISA: We really have to focus on culture internally
in the police department.
You can bring all the diversity into the department
that you want, but if you have a culture
that's not inclusive, it really doesn't matter,
you're gonna have the same kind of, you know--
You're gonna have the same culture
that you've already had and you're gonna--
you know, people are gonna do the same thing that
they've already done.
Our focus here at the Richmond Police Department
has been um, building relationships,
with the community, because that's how we feel like
we can prevent crimes and solve crimes
when they do happen.
We look at policy and really look at what the community
is asking of us and make sure that our policies
and procedures reflect that.
So, we have kind of a different community
policing model then a lot of other departments
in which everything we do is community pleasing,
not just a program or you know, a-- a few officers.
It's difficult to bring people of color
into this profession, especially with everything
that's going on. Just not-- not--
Not just now, but really over the last five plus years
with, you know, Ferguson and all the other departments
so, you know, how do I tell somebody that looks like me
to, “Oh, come join”, and then they come to you know,
a department or you know, like the departments
all across the-- the nation that are predominantly white
or have a lot of, you know, officers
that are not of color--
And um, you know, how do I tell you, “Yes, come work,
we're gonna do great things'.
and we're gonna do great things”.
in the community.
And you have the unique ability to connect,
but they don't wanna see themselves as wearing
this uniform because they know
what the representation is,
they know that the history of systemic oppression
by people that wear this uniform.
And while there's many of us that wear this uniform
that look like me
have not participated in that, we know that
the history of our profession has.
And so that's difficult to overcome.
It's-- it's difficult for those of us
who do wear this uniform
to reconcile with that fact that, “Yeah, we're a part of
this system that has oppressed our communities”.
Um, but there's also the opportunity to change that
How can we change that moving forward?
What can I do now as a chief of police
to put in policies and practices
within my organization, so that we no longer have
that system of oppression here
in the city of Richmond?
[***]
CHUCK D: (Narrating) Smart phone and body camera technology
have captured the many instances
of excessive use of force that people
in black and brown communities already knew.
Social media has amplified and exposed these crimes.
Without these tools, making police
and prosecutors more accountable
to the public would remain in the shadows.
America, with all its power, wealth, and knowledge,
has the ability to turn around a centuries' old issue
that can forever bring our communities together.
The killing of black men and women
during traffic stops needs immediate solutions.
DR. TAFT: The cameras don't lie.
And I think that the advent of social media
of putting it on the homes um, and on the devices,
because people live on the devices now
It's not anything you can escape,
it's not anything you can hide.
I think that there are some positivity that
comes with that.
I do feel though, at the same time, um,
that if people are want to make a change-- and it's--
it's always kind of funny because you really can't tell
anyone how to feel or how they should protest
or what they should do because you really don't know
what happens with them or what they have experienced.
I do think some other strategies could be applied
and that protest is just one form,
a one part of the solution, um, but there are other
approaches that may be necessary as well.
The public has a feeling that when they tell us
that they want us to increase transparency
that we understand it from what they're saying.
But what we understand it for what they're meaning,
and what they mean is that, they don't actually trust us.
They want to see that what we're doing matches
what we're saying.
So body cameras uh, and the proliferation of body cameras
throughout law enforcements has been extreme.
And I think it's a good thing.
We want to show the public that we're not only
have integrity with our report writing
and our actions, but we want to be able to prove that.
But not only to defend ourselves,
we wanna look-- take a look at body cameras in a way
that I don't think they've been used--
utilized well enough and that is as a performance
management measure.
We'd like to be able to take a look at what
officers are doing to determine
if their performance matches our expectations.
If it does, then that's great.
We should commend them
We should let them know that they're doing a great job.
If it doesn't, what we don't wanna do is
just look for them doing something bad.
We wanna ma-- we want to obviously take a look at
some of those pre-incident indicators to behavior
to see if we can sort of stop them along the way.
Send them in a right direction.
Send them-- Give them better guidance.
And more importantly, sit the officer down
and have them look at their performance.
It's amazing what will happen when you tell a person that,
“Listen, I don't-- I don't think you did the right way.”
For a law enforcement officers,
because we are so used to people combating us
our initial reaction is going to be, "I didn't do that,
I did it right."
The ability to see yourself in action, to see that
maybe you took a left turn when you should've taken--
taken a right turn.
And it allows you to-- to understand that
we're not out here trying to hurt you that
the executives within the agency and the supervisors
are there to improve performance,
ultimately hoping to improve service delivery
to the public.
ROY: Body cameras are not a panacea.
I mean, the panacea would be to stop the abuse
in the first place.
Uh, and the problem with body cameras is that
there are no generalized rules.
That every department does it their own way.
If we look at the Laquan McDonald's shooting,
In Laquan McDonald, we saw,
eventually that the officer was lying.
But that went on for a year or so.
So sometimes they just-- they know what's on there,
they know it's bad and they refuse to release it.
You know, I'm not gonna give them the excuse to--
There's too much video to look at.
They don't have time to look at it,
they don't have the resources to look at it.
We give our law enforcement agencies
an enormous amount of money.
It's how they decide to use it.
You know, they prefer to use it to buy new toys,
then it is to investigate allegations of misconduct.
CHUCK D: (Narrating) As the world reckons with what policing
looks like today,
reimagining 21st century policing has been the call
to action by citizens,
politicians, and law enforcement leaders.
There should be a social contract between
the community and the people um, who are served by
the law enforcement and law enforcement to ensure
that there was a meeting of the minds.
And what are the tools that you're using,
so for example, when President Obama
was in office, we stopped the practice
of giving military style equipment to local
law enforcement.
Believing that that only escalates the situation.
And one of the other recommendations
in the report was to encourage law enforcement
to get out of their car.
Well, first of all, the higher local enforcement
from the community.
So they know who are the leaders in the community.
And that encouraged them to get outside of their cars,
walks the street, go into the schools,
let people see them when there isn't a crisis,
so that they build relationships
And that is the foundation of bond of trust.
You can't get people to co-operate with you
if there are crimes in a community.
If they don't think the people are gonna
be treated fairly.
And so it actually impedes law enforcement's ability
to do their job.
GLENN: Community policing is a great concept,
because when the officers know the communities
that they are expected to police.
And when they are interacting with the folks every day,
not just when something goes wrong,
but when everything is going right,
when things are calm and quiet.
That's going to build important relationships.
I had a interesting conversation with um,
someone that I would consider to be a friend,
and he said to me that
when we were in Seminary School.
He was intimidated by me because
I destroyed his narrative
of what an African-American male is.
He grew up in South Carolina, just like me.
And he had a certain vision, a certain image
of what a black man was.
I upset all of that.
And then he began to say, “You know, I would love
to invite you to my congregation
and I would, you know, so if Lord praises on you
before you know, coming out of Hartsville,
South Carolina.
And I said, “Hold on, sir.”
I said, “Don't do that.
Because if you look at me as an anomaly,
because of my education and what I've been able to do.
What you're doing is now creating a cycle
where you see me differently from any other
African-American man, and that's the problem.
What you need to do is see my humanity,
just like you see anyone else's humanity.”
CHUCK D: (Narrating) More and more, citizens are coming up
with tech solutions, products and services
that are helping address the issue.
There are those already at the forefront
of this effort,
trying to make communities safer.
JACKIE: Not Reaching is a vehicle identification pouch,
it holds your license, registration, and insurance.
It clips to your driver-side air vent,
so when an officer comes to your car during
a traffic stop, you do not have to reach.
Officers have said that this is what makes them nervous
and escalates their traffic stops.
So, on July 6th of 2016,
I'm at-- we're at home celebrating
our son's 38th birthday and Valerie Castile
is in Minnesota, losing her son
to a routine traffic stop.
And that was the day, I said, “That's it.
We have to come up with a solution.
There has to be something out there.”
So after interviewing police officers,
they all said the same thing.
What is it that makes you nervous during
a traffic stop?
They all said, reaching.
And that's how we came up with Not Reaching,
not knowing two years later, I would find out
that Philando's last words before he died were,
“I wasn't reaching.”
Our policing system, sir,
are out of control.
They are not regulated, there is not the appropriate
accountability measures.
If every time an officer interacts with
a community member, there is a risk that
that community member could end up dead.
And there's never accountability
for that officer.
You are never going to be able to have the kind of
safety that you are talking about.
We have a filing crime rate of approximately
300 to 400 people every year, across administrations.
And that's what it's looked like for years, and years,
and years.
Dumping money into criminal justice.
What if we move that money into building people up
instead of tearing people down?
Because the current system just isn't working
We don't have the greatest criminal justice
in the world.
We shouldn't be locking up more people than
pretty much every single country in the world.
We shouldn't be destroying black lives
and black communities, and the Latino lives
and Latino communities.
So what do we have to lose by actually doing
something different
That actually makes common sense.
The American people can't have confidence
in the police force, when you have
the Eric Garners, and the Philando Castiles,
and the George Floyds,
and-- you could name,
how many names?
Dozens, hundreds, thousands of names.
So, when I see congress taking up things like
banning choke holds, well, that's wonderful.
But that's like putting a Band-Aid
on a gaping chest wound.
What I think needs to be done, based on what I saw
in my 30 years as a prosecutor,
is the kind of intense, systemic reform
that partners the police with those being policed.
The Gen-Z'ers and gen uh-- and the millennials
have a certain respect for humanity.
That I think may be a little different
from, you know, prior generations.
Given George Floyd's case,
people saw him as a human being for the first time.
It's sad that he has to be recognized
as a human being, when he is in a helpless state,
because he should be respected as one
as he was walking and all of this
over a supposed counterfeit $20 bill.
Imagine a room filled with 13 to 17 year old
students of color, brainstorming
how they can use technology to make a positive impact
to their community.
My first introduction into the world of technology
was a Kino Live Tech Phone.
But there was a question, that was posed at me
at that event.
It was, “Could an app have saved Trayvon Martin?”
Uh, I created Cop Stop in 2015.
It was born out of the idea that we need to figure out
how to alleviate this overwhelming sense
of anxiety that black folks get and other folks
of color get, when you're talking
to an officer after he or she pulls you over.
It's ridiculous that you can feel like you're frozen
you know, that these folks that you're supposed to call
after anything happens.
Uh, that you-- you feel like,
they're ready to kill you, you know.
So, I had to figure out some like--
some step in the right direction
to create a solution for it.
Um, I was invited by the chief of police to give
a presentation on Cop Stop.
Uh, my experience with officers,
why I felt there was a need for the application,
and how the officers can use it to regulate
their own behaviors and keep themselves accountable.
At the same time, it was how community members
are gonna use it for their own safety.
And I can definitely share I was nervous.
Like I was scared, ‘cause it was my first time speaking
to a group of officers um,
about an app called “Cop Stop”
and I'm black.
That opportunity was really, really eye-opening,
because that happened--
that happened when I was 15 years old.
From all of the workshops and projects that I've done,
they all stem from the same idea of defining
your own reality.
I practiced that through technology creation.
We can use technology as a platform to build
an educational system without the influence
of white supremacy.
[Applause]
I know its uncomfortable, but if you've been waiting
for someone to tell you,
it's time to keep questioning,
let it be me.
Curiosity doesn't always lead to death.
In truth, it can be the strongest catalyst
for change.
Thank you.
[Audience cheering & applauding]
We've pleaded, we've prayed, we've worshipped,
we've begged, we've marched,
And it can't-- It does not appear to resonate, right.
With-- with large numbers of white Americans
that race relations is their problem to solve
I think, that people need to take a deep breath
and they need to start having conversations like this
to really understand everybody's viewpoint.
In the future, I hope I don't have to see
video after video of police disrespecting, dehumanizing
and hurting, killing, and injuring folk on the
It's gonna take mayors and police chiefs
who are committed to recognizing that
there is a problem.
Not-- not trying to pretend it doesn't exist.
It does exist!
It is a real emphasis on the getting
our white counterparts to at the very least
understand that these things are real for us.
It's time now uh, that we really need to the--
to listen to the voices
of those who have the worst assumptions about
the justice system,
the worst assumptions about policing.
America to have justice for all.
Don't think of a person's color,
think of them being a human.
They'll treat a dog better
than they'll treat a human being.
Members of jury, I will now read the verdicts
as they will appear on the permanent records
of the fourth judicial district.
We, the jury, in the above entitled manner
as to count one,
unintentional second degree murder
while committing a felony,
find the defendant guilty.
[Crowd cheering]
* Trust me if you can understand *
* It's a new day*
* Life is real, but we still gotta get paid*
* Take it back to the simple things*
* Like level out the Fuck the bullshit games*
* Stand up to a man*
* Yes, I can take my place*
* Don't let that chess play fool ya*
* Put your picture in a frame*
* It's time to step into this double Dutch game*
* And just stand up for something*
* Don't fall back for nothing*
* If we don't stand for something*
* We'll fall for anything*
* Life is passing by*
* And it's not gonna sit right*
* When you witness the truth*
* But then believe the lies*
* I'm a mama*
* Freedom fighter *
* I'm a queen*
* But if I don't speak up*
* And tell you what it means*
* And while justice keeps on fading away*
* Even fear keep on making mistakes*
* Police against the citizens *
* The troops against the youth*
* And what am I*
* Those things will tell me what we're gonna do*
* Oh, oh, oh*
* Just stand up for something*
* Don't fall back for nothing*
* If we don't stand for something*
* We'll fall for anything*
* Just stand up for something*
* Don't fall back for nothing*
* If we don't stand for something*
* We'll fall for anything*
* Dream makers, heart breakers*
* F reedom fighters*
* Not you haters*
* True believers, motivators*
* To rise up now*
* Yeah, there's a new day, right outside your door*
* If you open it*
* And see what's in store*
* Yeah, there's a new day, right outside your door*
* If you open it*
* You'll see what's in store*
* Oh*
* Just stand up for something*
* Don't fall back for nothing*
* If we don't stand for something*
* We'll fall for anything*
* Just stand up for something*
* Don't fall down, oh, oh, oh*
* If we don't stand for something*
* We'll fall for anything*
[***]