Racial Justice

Best of 2018

• Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen

  “Written by Pulitzer-Prize Winning journalist, Jose Antonio Vargas, Dear America explores his life as an undocumented American. In his memoir, Vargas describes in detail the lying, passing, and hiding he and other undocumented citizens must engage to survive shedding light on what being undocumented means.”
• The Line Becomes a River: Dispatches from the Border

  “A former border patrol agent, and son of a Mexican immigrant, reflects on his time in the agency and his personal experiences with realizing the dehumanizing and dismissive effect of the border on migrants.”
• On the Other Side of Freedom

  “Continuing a conversation about activism, resistance, and justice that embraces our nation’s complex history, [DeRay Mckesson] dissects how deliberate oppression persists, how racial injustice strips our lives of promise, and how technology has added a new dimension to mass action and social change.”
• Always in Season

  “This film explores the lingering impact of more than a century of lynching African Americans and connects this form of historic racial terrorism to racial violence today. The film centers on the case of Lennon Lacy, an African American teen who was found hanging from a swing set in Bladenboro, North Carolina, on August 29, 2014.”
• Stranger Fruit

  “The events of Ferguson, Missouri and the killing of Michael Brown are re-investigated with compelling new evidence shedding new light on the events surrounding the death of Brown.”
• Blindspotting

  “Collin must make it through his final three days of probation for a chance at a new beginning. He and his troublemaking childhood best friend, Miles, work as movers, and when Collin witnesses a police shooting, the two men’s friendship is tested as they grapple with identity and their changed realities in the rapidly-gentrifying neighborhood they grew up in.”
• Crime + Punishment

  “Amidst a landmark class action lawsuit over illegal policing quotas, Crime + Punishment chronicles the remarkable efforts and struggles of a group of black and Latino whistleblower cops and the young minorities they are pressured to arrest and summons in New York City.”
• Charm City

  “Filmed over three tumultuous years covering the lead up to, and aftermath of, Freddie Gray’s death in [Baltimore] police custody, Charm City is an intimate cinema verité portrait of those surviving in, and fighting for, the vibrant city they call home.”
• Monsters and Men

  “When a young father witnesses the police shooting of an unarmed black man, the tight-knit community of Bed-Stuy is pushed to the brink in Reinaldo Marcus Green’s Sundance Award-winning portrait of race, family, and consequence.”
• Say Her Name: The Life and Death of Sandra Bland

  “This film explores the death of Sandra Bland, a politically active 28-year-old African American who, after being arrested for a traffic violation in a small Texas town, was found hanging in her jail cell three days later. The film team followed the two-year case beginning shortly after Bland's death, exploring the questions of what really happened to her, and what we may learn from her tragedy.”
• Vox, The Impact, “Deportation Without Representation”

  Host: Sarah Kliff
  “While the federal government is trying to deport as many immigrants as possible, Oakland, California, is running a policy experiment to help immigrants stay in their communities. The city is giving as many immigrants as possible attorneys in court, free of charge.”
• The New York Times, The Daily, “How Separating Families Became US Policy”

  Host: Michael Barbaro
  “On June 7, [The Daily] interviewed Stephen Miller, President Trump’s senior policy adviser, in his West Wing office about the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy at the border, which has led to heartbreaking images of children being forcibly separated from their families.”
• NPR, Radio Ambulante, “Episode 69 - The Foreigner (El extranjero) (Spanish)”

  Host: Daniel Alarcón
  “In Coihueco, an isolated and rural village in central Chile, life used to go by quietly, uneventfully. But in 2016, Rodlin Etienne arrived. He was the first Haitian in Coihueco —the first of many.”
• The New York Time, The Daily, “Charm City, a five-part audio series”

  Producer: Lynsea Garrison
  “The Daily presents a five-part series about the life and death of a Baltimore teenager known as Nook, who was fatally shot by a police officer a year after the killing of Freddie Gray. Nook’s family is searching for truth from the streets where he died, the police who took his life and the city that won’t give them answers.”
• Crooked, Pod Save The People, “Get Creative”

  Hosts: DeRay Mckesson, Clint Smith III, Samuel Sinyangwe, and Brittany Packnett
  The hosts “talk about using creativity to combat white supremacy, confronting housing segregation, Cyntoia Brown’s prison sentence, and the rise of dollar stores. Nicholas Turner of the Vera Institute of Justice joins DeRay to discuss prison systems globally.”
• Sirius XM, The Topeka K. Sam Show, “Schools NOT Prisons”

  “Formerly-incarcerated activist and founder of The Ladies of Hope Ministries Topeka Sam interviews Dr. Baz Dreisinger to discuss the root of the school-to-prison pipeline and how reformers are working from within to alter sentencing trends and decriminalize education for students of color.”
• Center for Court Innovation, New Thinking, “Violence, Trauma, and Healing in Crown Heights, Brooklyn”

  Host: Matthew Watkins
  “Our New Thinking podcast visited the Make It Happen program in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, to profile its innovative approach to working with young men of color affected by violence. Through interviews with participants and practitioners, the episode addresses the intersections of trauma, involvement with the justice system, and the lived experience of race.”
• “Say My Name” (feat. Black Thought)

  “The [NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert] set concludes with a new version of "Say My Name," a song Mumu wrote about Sandra Bland, who died in police custody in 2015, and the impact it had on her.”
• “The Immigrants”

  “It's a powerful message of courage, love and faith that resonates to this day and should be spread wide across the entire nation and beyond. We all share the same dreams and we came here to fulfill them and to prosper, together.’”
• "Stay Woke"

  "It was designed for us to fail / We still prevail through the hell / Yeah, can you believe it? We're still undefeated / Though it was designed for us to lose / We'll still make it through, nothing's impossible / Can you believe it? We're still undefeated"
• "This Is America"

  "This is America / Don't catch you slippin' now / Don't catch you slippin' now / Look what I'm whippin' now / This is America (Woo) / Don't catch you slippin' now / Don't catch you slippin' now / Look what I'm whippin' now"
• “To Kill a Mockingbird”

  “A new take on the classic novel by Harper Lee. Written by Aaron Sorkin, directed by Bartlett Sher.”
• “Blood, Sweat, and Tears”

  “Self-taught artist Russell Craig’s artistic style and stirring imagery were developed during his seven-year incarceration. Craig’s pieces create a platform to help unify all who have struggled through trauma and advocate for positive change within ourselves and our communities.”
• "Street Livin'"

  "In a world where our most basic human rights are often ignored and the system doesn't respect us, a just future is only achievable if we come together and use our collective power to make change."
• The National Memorial for Peace and Justice

  “The National Memorial for Peace and Justice is the nation’s first memorial dedicated to the legacy of enslaved black people, people terrorized by lynching, African Americans humiliated by racial segregation and Jim Crow, and people of color burdened with contemporary presumptions of guilt and police violence.”
• "Portraits of Justice"

  A mural by Jesse Krimes and Russell Craig on the Municipal Services Building in Philadelphia, PA, funded by the Reimagining Reentry Fellowship program (launched by Restorative Justice).

More Lenses

Public Health

Women & Girls

Disability