The projection of the film for women and gender studies: “The use of force, the police in black America”

The violence of weapons contributes to many of the serious problems facing society today, including school shootings and domestic violence. However, police brutality, especially against people in marginalized communities, is truly escalated when weapons are involved and has recently become a very widespread problem.

Patricia Sloane-White, teacher and president of women and gender studies at the University, hosts five film screenings for her class in this semester, “History of women in film: Guns and America”.

“I questioned this semester why America is so violent,” said Sloane-White. “What is unique in America and our history, which means that our statistics are as brutal and painful as the ones we have heard. And I show five different perspectives on violence. “

On February 24, the third film projection, which presented the documentary from 2022 “Use of force: Black American police“, Took place in Gore Hall. Created by the filmmaker Cary Grant Jr., the film has entered the tense relationship between color communities and law enforcement.

The film showed pictures of black men and women who lost their lives in the hands of police, such as George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Philando Castile. He also included the pain of black mothers, wives and children who lost their loved ones and had enough in injustice.

“What I want to understand my students is that every story we look at in this class is about a family,” said Sloane-White. “It is about someone’s child, it is about the enormous wave of trauma that happens as a result of violence with weapons or just violence itself.”

Whole communities are seen in the film that unite to protest and even revolt when one of them is taken without justice or responsibility from the police department.

The documentary showed the oppression of black people, who face racism and suffering violence back when the slavery began for the first time. In addition, a variety of speakers, including pastors, political officials, activists, police officers and even athletes are presented.

“I feel like the problem when it comes to you, you know the brutality of the police, a lot of these are deeply rooted in the stigma of what is a black person,” said Calais Campell, an American professional football player in the film.

One of the biggest challenges that was discussed was “leadership while it’s black”, a term that refers to the racial profiling of black drivers. The documentary acknowledged that the black people who lose their lives in this type of situation usually result in the mentioned officers are paid or do not have accusations at all.

He becomes even deeper when John Choi, Minnesota County Lawyer, mentioned that, in some of these situations, the police create the situation by not following their training and instead make assumptions and use excessive force.

“There are many cases in America, if the officer acts differently, if they didn’t assume that everyone around them would be a deadly threat to them, that we will have very different results,” Choi said.

The film addressed that liability is made by using body cameras and smartphones, showing how the situation has really decreased than what the police officers claim.

However, there are police officers who are seen and recognized for the follow -up of the protocol. Many young recruits join the force in the hope of doing something good for their community, although they can be manipulated by some of their superiors who do not follow their training.

Dr. Loretta Prater, retired dean of the Human Health and Human Sciences of the Missouri State University, was invited to the zoom to talk about Her regretted son Leslie Praterwho died unarmed and was detained by the police. She agreed that there should be a change in police training to reduce police violence. In fact, the change is happening now.

“Oh, surely, some places do it,” Prater said on the call. “Now, in Minnesota, they have started doing things and also in Washington.”

Prater spoke previously to Lecture of Ida B. Wells of the University Two years ago with Sybrina Fulton, the mother of late Trayvon Martin, who was unfairly killed by George Zimmermana neighborhood clock volunteer.

Finally, solutions were discussed about how to reduce the problem and to establish an authentic trust between black people and the police force, such as police officers who make up relationships, treating color with humanity, checking the body chambers and understanding what makes officers to be so uncomfortable.

Sloane-White students were distributed to write a personal essay about what they thought and how they could stop such interactions. Sophia Surdovel, a major of senior psychology, believed that the film is an edifying experience.
“It is something we need to know and learn about, because it happens and happens in our own community here,” said Surdovel. “So, for sure, a wonderful clock.”