Every other week it seems, I awake to news that another unarmed Black person has been slaughtered by law enforcement. Whether it’s a teenager turning his back, a young mother clutching her small child, or a man waiting with his stalled vehicle, the narrative has become a horrific cycle of death, videos and no repercussions for the police. This death and violence are a part of America’s framework, and it’s always been here, it’s simply more visible in the age of advanced technology and social media.
Visionary storytellers Reggie Rock Bythewood and Gina Prince-Bythewood have decided to combine the art of storytelling and activism in order to say something about the state of our very broken country. In a ten-hour miniseries event that for the couple was inspired by their sons, Fox’s “Shots Fired” goes well beyond a hashtag. The gripping story which stars Sanaa Lathan (“Love & Basketball”), Tristan Wilds (“The Wire”), and Stephan James (“Selma”), flips the usual narrative on its head. Wilds stars as Deputy Joshua Beck, a Black police officer who kills an unarmed white college student, and is now being deeply scrutinized in the national media and in his North Carolina small town. Further exacerbating the situation is the fact the Beck is the sole Black officer on the police force.
Continue reading at Shadow and Act.