In response to the enthusiasm generated by the March For Our Lives, the largest anti-gun violence demonstration in the nation’s history, Grassroots Media DC, produced a documentary that features Black student activists in the District of Columbia. Working in conjunction with Black Lives Matter-DC, our aim was to capture the experiences Black youth have with gun violence and their perspectives on gun violence prevention and community safety. The result was Incompatible Allies: Black Lives Matter, March for Our Lives and the US Debate about Guns and Violence. Below is the trailer.
The documentary includes interviews with students from schools across the District. The video offers a perspective often excluded from national conversations about gun control, highlighting the ways that violence in white communities is often seen as a national crisis, while violence in African-American communities is often ignored.
“I became frustrated with the fact that national attention and money was being thrown at white students, while black students – who experience gun violence at far higher rates – were being ignored and left out of the conversation,” said Dornethia Taylor, a Core Organizer with Black Lives Matter who conceived of the video project. “When I heard the March for Our Lives was coming to DC, without engaging with the ways that gun violence affects black folks in our city, I decided to get local black young people together to share their stories. This video project is the result.”
Students in the video speak to a variety of differences between the dominant narrative around gun control, and the lived experiences of Black students. “As a community disproportionately targeted by police, we are very skeptical of calls for increased funding for police in schools,” Taylor added. “Further, guns have poured into our communities unregulated for decades. Piecemeal approaches to gun control that don’t address root causes of violence will not make us safer.”
After the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the students from Parkland, Florida immediately became media darlings and hailed as the only force strong enough to move the United States to adopt gun reform. To their credit, the Parkland students organized the largest anti-gun violence demonstration in the history of the nation. Recognizing that media bias gave them a platform while others with similar goals were largely ignored, they invited young Black and Brown activists to share the stage with them.
But is the gun reform that the Parkland students call for in line with the demands of the Black Lives Matter Movement, with whom they claim to have an affinity? Will March for Our Lives last beyond the mid-term elections? What can Black Lives Matter activists teach the Parkland students and the vast numbers inspired by them about organizing and sustaining a movement. Perhaps more to the point, should they even bother?
If the momentum behind the March For Our Lives turns out to be fleeting, where should those who are committed to ending gun violence direct their efforts? This documentary attempts to answer that question. At the very least, we hope to deepen the conversation about gun control, gun violence and violence in general within those communities who choose to screen the documentary.
For information about obtaining a DVD of the full documentary and/or scheduling a screening within the District of Columbia Metropolitan Area, please contact liane@grassrootsdc.org.