It’s a lot to explain
On May 25th, 2020 the United States lost another innocent Black life, to police brutality. The loss of George Floyd was a tipping point in civic engagement in the fight for equality and in the dismantling of a system on which our country was built upon. After watching the world erupt in protests from my bedroom while locking down due to a pandemic, I felt called to document what was happening. On June 1st, 2020 after flying out to Denver, Co for unrelated reasons, I showed up at the capitol and began documenting. I continued to follow protests around the country, with a friend Sam Morgan, right up until the election. We went to Kenosha, Portland, DC, Philadelphia, after spending the first month and a half in Denver.
Like many things, the subject matter and the complexity of everything going on felt incredibly overwhelming. My goal was to help be another outlet of information and show what was happening in our country without interjecting my own opinion on the matter. After filming a protest for Elijah McClain in Aurora, Co I felt like I needed to do something with the footage, so Sam and I along with another friend created an account called Its a lot to Explain. Based on the complexity of the subject matter at hand it seemed incredibly fitting. We ended up putting out 4 different YouTube videos on a variety of subjects, from the Trump Rally in Tulsa to a Blue Lives Matter rally in Denver.
Ultimately, the short pace of filming videos and turning them around abruptly took away from the ability to actually put together a polished piece of work and help report on history. This has led to a documentary that Sam Morgan and I are working on about the complexity of change. We are still watching history unfold itself in front of us every week. The goal of this documentary is to not let the issues of systemic racism get swept under the bus, and not let the events which took place this year to be forgotten about.
We will be finishing the documentary and releasing it to film festivals entering into Summer 2021.
Trump Rally Tulsa 2020
We made a trip to Tulsa, Ok for Donald Trump’s first rally since Covid-19. He held the rally on Juneteenth weekend, the proclaimed end of Slavery in the United States. With the history of the Tulsa Race Massacre, the fact that Trump held a rally there on Juneteenth weekend was quite disrespectful. We went and documented what we saw.
Justice FOr Elijah Mcclain
On June 28th, 2020 protestors in Aurora, Co peacefully demanded that the officers who murdered Elijah McClain be arrested. Instead, protestors were met with tear gas and an aggressive display of police brutality. As the police pushed protesters back, a peaceful violin vigil was taking place in the parking lot. It was an interesting juxtaposition.
Blue Lives Matter vs. Black lives Matter
On June 19th, 2020 we went to go document a Pro Police Rally in Downtown Denver. The timing could not have been more planned in order to stir up trouble, and the “rally” was met by Black Lives Matter protestors.
Good trouble Tuesday in Louisville
We got in the car and drove to Lousiville, KY in late August to go document a protest in demands of Justice for Breonna Taylor. In the words of Senator John Lewis, “ Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.”