THESE VICTIMS WERE HUMANS WITH DREAMS, FAMILIES, FRIENDS, AND LOVERS ALIKE. LET'S REMEMBER THEM AS SUCH.
It is reported that over one hundred and thirty unarmed* Black citizens have been killed at the hands of the police since 1999. Typically, these encounters are non-violent and evidence indicates the police were not directly threatened. For example, Aiyanna Stanley-Jones, a seven-year old from Detroit, was murdered by Joseph Weekley while sleeping in her home during a police raid. Similarly, John Crawford III was gunned down by Sean Williams while holding an unpackaged BB gun in Walmart. Unfortunately, these tragic occurrences are not uncommon. The coupling of a militarized police force with the systemic anti-black racism are the reasons that Black Americans are under attack. Our project seeks to depart from the classic depiction of targeted Black civilians by refocusing the attention on their lives rather than their premature deaths.
We believe we need to deconstruct the ways in which media represents the victims of police brutality and make a concerted effort to recenter their humanity. In other words, we want to reset the standard for acceptable coverage of police brutality. Just like “good journalism” used to provide a story that had been thoroughly researched and had several sources, we want to shift the expectations of media coverage away from one that desensitizes viewers and criminalizes civilians to one that highlights the tragic loss of innocent lives which ended too early. We demand well-rounded, unbiased reporting that gives details of their lives, rather than just their murders. We want to end the normalization of murdering unarmed Black Americans by humanizing the fallen.
It is important to highlight that we would have liked to include all Black victims, but there are several issues: 1) the definition of “armed” is highly problematic and often inaccurately reported by the police, thus skewing the data (mostly in favor of the police); 2) there is a deficit of statistics and lack of transparency in the recording of police brutality; and 3) validated information is difficult to come by.
*This number is subject to scrutiny.
We believe we need to deconstruct the ways in which media represents the victims of police brutality and make a concerted effort to recenter their humanity. In other words, we want to reset the standard for acceptable coverage of police brutality. Just like “good journalism” used to provide a story that had been thoroughly researched and had several sources, we want to shift the expectations of media coverage away from one that desensitizes viewers and criminalizes civilians to one that highlights the tragic loss of innocent lives which ended too early. We demand well-rounded, unbiased reporting that gives details of their lives, rather than just their murders. We want to end the normalization of murdering unarmed Black Americans by humanizing the fallen.
It is important to highlight that we would have liked to include all Black victims, but there are several issues: 1) the definition of “armed” is highly problematic and often inaccurately reported by the police, thus skewing the data (mostly in favor of the police); 2) there is a deficit of statistics and lack of transparency in the recording of police brutality; and 3) validated information is difficult to come by.
*This number is subject to scrutiny.