Ava Duvernay launches project to hold police accountable for brutality

‘We have a blind spot as a society in agreeing not to speak these officer’s names. I do not agree to that anymore’

Ava DuVernay has launched a new initiative designed to hold police officers accountable when they commit acts of brutality.

The director unveiled the project on Monday, tweeting: “Officers who kill unarmed black people often get admin pay, another job, a life of anonymity.

“Their victims get eulogies. We have a blind spot as a society in agreeing not to speak these officer’s names. I do not agree to that anymore.”

The initiative, called the Law Enforcement Accountability Project, defines itself as a “direct action disrupting the code of silence around police abuse, aggression and murder of black people”.

It will fund projects across a variety of artistic disciplines, including film, theatre, photography, music, dance, and literature, to spread the stories of activists looking to share narratives of police brutality.

DuVernay told The Washington Post that she was moved to start the initiative after watching footage of the death of George Floyd, the 46-year-old black man who died on 25 May in Minneapolis, Minnesota, after a white police officer knelt on his neck.

The officer, Derek Chauvin, has been charged with second-degree murder in Floyd’s death. His former coworkers, J Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane, and Tou Thao, are charged as accomplices.

“I’m used to watching racist, violent images,” DuVernay told The Washington Post. “So why did George Floyd’s final moments devastate me like it did? I realised that it was because this time the cop isn’t hidden behind a body cam or distorted by grainy surveillance video. This time, I can see the cop’s face. As a viewer, there are several times when he even looks right at me. Then ... I started to realise how rare that is.

“And that led me to think, ‘How many of these police officers do we never see?’ They disappear, end up leaving town, and show up in another department. Their names are said, but it’s never amplified and it’s kind of like this group contract. Somehow, we, as American citizens, have agreed to not speak their names. I do not agree to that anymore.”

The initiative, according to the Post, has an initial budget of $3m, with contributions from the Ford Foundation and screenwriter Ryan Murphy.

The first project is set to be unveiled in August.

Additional reporting by agencies