Dear Friends,
EVC stands in solidarity with Black communities and young people around the nation fighting to dismantle structural racism, white supremacy, and systems of oppression in all forms.
We stand with them today, as we have for decades. Three generations of EVC students have documented the systematic devaluation and dehumanization of Black life at the hands of the police through countless youth produced films including Policing the Police (1988), Disorderly Conduct: Are the Police Killing Us? (1997), Life Under Suspicion: Youth Perspectives on the NYPD’s Stop and Frisk Policy (2012), Policing the Times (2015), Black & Blue: The Traumas of Police Brutality in New York City (2018), Cops Are(n’t) Colorblind: Changing the NYPD Inside and Out (2019).
Enough is enough. For 35 years we’ve been following our youth producers’ lead on how to step up and speak truth to power, and now is no exception. As our student Effy reflected, whilst working on a police brutality documentary:
“I grew as a person by expanding my strategy of activism and questioning and challenging my environment in order to change it for the better…We are the revolution so we must revolutionize.”
Be like Effy. Stand up for what’s right and reflect on what each one of us can personally do to make this a better world. This is a time to boldly re-imagine our society, where all of us are bound joyously together by the principles of love and justice with the voices and stories of youth leading the way.
In solidarity,
EVC Board and Staff
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