I chose to do my semester project
on police brutality toward black men. It is a topic that is close to my heart because
I have three younger brothers and there are times when I fear for their safety when
they go out of my sight. Using the #BlackLivesMatter art as inspiration, I chose to make a collage
of my favorite young men in my life to go along with the interview I did with my mentor about his experiences dealing with the police. This topic is something that is constantly
talked about in the news to the point where it seems as regular as whether
or not it is going to rain this week. In the book Seeing Power Nato
Thompson writes, “A criticism, that rears its head over and over again in the
critical left community is that a given project was either ‘preaching to the choir’
or ‘didn’t make sense to any people’” (145). Something to note is that if this
issue is to be resolved it must be brought to the forefront of the countries
mind at all times.
When working on this project it required
me to do a lot of statistical research on police killings to African Americans
and the results were very startling. I learned that the majority of information
is very skewed towards inaccuracy. This is due to the coroners, police, and investigators
inaccuracy labeling the causes of death. I have always known that the reports
could not have been accurate for there are many cases of trigger-happy cops
that reach for their firearm first and ask questions second. In the cases of brutality,
I learned that the most endangered sector of the black male community is our
young adult men. Men from 18-25 are much more likely to be harassed by an
officer. The percentages reduce as they get older however, there is still an alarmingly
disproportionate rate of attacks on black men than white men by the police.
Working on this project gave me an expanded
view of how different types of protests occur. Originally, I just assumed there
had to be picket lines and angry people with signs for it to be a protest. As I
continued to work on this project, I learned that protest art is just as moving
as the megaphones and fired up people who have taken to the streets. In many
ways, it is more moving because it is a piece of life that will last forever. There
will always be the memory of a physical protest but when in art form it is a piece
of life that has been created to last. A voice in physical form.
I plan to use this project in my media
capstone project for next semester called “The Many Faces of Black America”, it is
a documentary of my experiences learning about black culture through an academic the viewpoint of a predominantly Hispanic university and the struggles of
representation I face on a regular basis. However, I will be posting this on my
Tumblr page as well as I am trying to have it installed in the mini-show for
media students taking photography and foundations of media.
I have included a link to my powerpoint here: file:///C:/Users/TLC/Downloads/Just%20another%20statistic.pdf
I have included a link to my powerpoint here: file:///C:/Users/TLC/Downloads/Just%20another%20statistic.pdf
as well as the youtube link to my video titles My story: Damien Barnett- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18D9X1MeOvM
he is a mentor and friend of mine who was kind enough to share his experience with police at an early age and some of the feelings that are attached to them.
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