Throughout the spring and summer of 2020, people across the country protested racism and police brutality. After watching Black people like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks, Tony McDade, Elijah McClain, and too many more be killed by police, people everywhere proclaimed BLACK LIVES MATTER! They called for defunding the police, reforming the police, and holding police accountable to the communities they’re supposed to serve and protect.
But what does police accountability actually look like in NYC? How can we reimagine public safety? How can young people be involved?
In the Fall of 2020, CUP collaborated with Teaching Artist Marianna Olinger and public high school students from the Red Hook Community Justice Center. For this project, which was done remotely due to the Covid-19 pandemic, students created silkscreened posters at home, interviewed stakeholders and decision makers over Zoom, and worked online to collaboratively edit together a short documentary film that explores ideas of police accountability and public safety.
The crew gathered what they learned and created Good Cops? Bad Cops? More Cops? No Cops? — a short video that breaks down the issue. Watch the film below!
Students debuted their final project virtually through a public presentation, where they presented their film and shared their creative process to almost one hundred attendees. Students also shared their project with other youth in the community through several peer-to-peer workshops. CUP students screened their film, shared their creative process, and faciliated conversations about the issue in small groups.
See more photos of students in action here!