Welcome to the first installment of the You Are Black Gold Streaming & Reading series!
This series presents curated lists of books and currently streaming films, documentaries, and shows to begin building a foundational knowledge on critical topics impacting the African American community. This inaugural Streaming & Reading post focuses on police brutality and the criminal justice system.
For most Black Americans, it is undeniable that we live in a police state where an encounter with the police could alter—or end—your life forever. Unfortunately, this is not new, but because of smartphones and social media, we are more aware of this issue than ever before.
Topics covered in this list include police violence, coerced confessions, wrongful convictions, convict leasing, mass incarceration, the criminalization of Black children, their historical contexts and impacts on the Black family structure. Most of us have been directly or indirectly impacted by at least one of these issues and it would be helpful for us to learn more. With the recent banning of The New Jim Crow in two New Jersey prisons (now overturned thanks to the work of the New Jersey ACLU), we are once again reminded of the true power of knowledge.
Know your rights! Please review this ACLU guide:
What to do if you’re stopped by the police, immigration agents or the FBI
Streaming
Online:
Slavery By Another Name (PBS)
Ted Talks:
How we're priming some kids for college—and others for prison
A father-daughter dance...in prison
How I help free innocent people from prison
A prosecutor's vision for a better justice system
Amazon Prime:
Ken Burns: The Central Park Five
Netflix:
Time: The Kalief Browder Story
The Confession Tapes (Episode 5 "8th and H")
Reading
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness—Michelle Alexander
Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color—Andrea J. Ritchie
Arrested Justice: Black Women, Violence, and America's Prison Nation—Beth E. Richie
Slavery by Another Name: The Re-enslavement of Black Americans from Civil—Douglas Blackmon
Worse than Slavery: Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow Justice—David M. Oshinsky
Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy—Heather Ann Thompson
Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools—Monique Morris
Marked: Race, Crime, and Finding Work in an Era of Mass Incarceration—Devah Pager
Have you read or seen anything on the list? What else would you recommend to become more educated on the topics of police brutality and the criminal justice system? Leave a comment!