The video above is an a report by NBC News that follows Sgt. John Bell of the Inglewood Police Department. The cameras follow Sgt. Bell while he is on patrol during the LA Riots to give America a glimpse of what happening during this time through the lens of a white police officer. Sgt. Bell has a reputation for "being tough" and talking tough. In this video, the audience hears the commentary of a white police officer patrolling the Inglewood community. He refers to the number of men of color he stops on the street as "dorks" and "idiots" and reminding one them that they're lucky he didn't shoot them. This report aired on the NBC News for all Americans to see, and it paints an interesting illusion of the LA Riots and evens leading up to it.
This video is interesting for me to watch now; I can't imagine NBC doing a report like this today. This was probably aired in hopes to give the average American living outside of LA an inside view of what was happening during the LA Riots. Obviously the producers didn't think there was anything wrong with this interview since they aired it on national television, and that really blows my mind because there is so much wrong in this video. It is wild to think about how nearly 30 years ago, a national TV broadcasting network did not think that an interview like this would be incredibly controversial. The police are still doing the same thing today as Sgt. Bell was 28 years ago: patrolling neighborhoods by harassing POC. The only thing that seems to be different is when and why the media wants the public to see it.
- Stevie Fox
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