Good Cops? Bad Cops? More Cops? No Cops?
Throughout the spring and summer of 2020, people across the country protested racism and police brutality. After watching Black people like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks, Tony McDade, Elijah McClain, and too many more be killed by police, people everywhere proclaimed BLACK LIVES MATTER! They called for defunding the police, reforming the police, and holding police accountable to the communities they’re supposed to serve and protect.
But what does police accountability actually look like in NYC? How can we reimagine public safety? How can young people be involved?
In the Fall of 2020, CUP collaborated with Teaching Artist Marianna Olinger and public high school students from the Red Hook Community Justice Center. For this project, which was done remotely due to the Covid-19 pandemic, students created silkscreened posters at home, interviewed stakeholders and decision makers over Zoom, and worked online to collaboratively edit together a short documentary film that explores ideas of police accountability and public safety.
The crew gathered what they learned and created Good Cops? Bad Cops? More Cops? No Cops? — a short video that breaks down the issue. Students debuted their final project virtually through a public presentation, where they presented their film and shared their creative process to almost one hundred attendees. Students also shared their project with other youth in the community through several peer-to-peer workshops. CUP students screened their film, shared their creative process, and facilitated conversations about the issue in small groups.
“This is a really important topic and important program that can help us young people be activists in our community and represent what’s wrong and what’s right.”
Stiven Vasquez, Student
Watch the Film
Project Collaborators
Center For Urban Pedagogy
Educational Partner
Red Hook Community
Justice Center
Viviana Gordon
Sabrina Carter
Leslie Gonzaga
Adame Belay
Katherine Ortiz
Teaching Artist
Students
Akeelah Hargett Baldwin, Sullivan Hunter, Ronny Medina, Hollis Rivera, Brandon Vasqeuz, Stiven Vasquez, with help from Juliana Naughton, Anthony Gonzaga Campos, Students Viviana Gordon, Deputy Director Sabrina Carter, Associate Director of Youth and Community Programs Leslie Gonzaga, Coordinator of RHCJC Resilience Corps Adame Belay, Katherine Ortiz
Special Thanks
Eric Adams, Tiffany Eason, Carolyn Martinez-Class, and Adam Vitale.
Funding Support
Support for this project was provided by Jenn Damm, Jim & Birte Falconer, Iben Falconer & Neil Donnelly, Gabriel Gordon, Fielding Hong, Sunmoon Jang, Lauren Jones, Rebecca Karp, Beom Jun Kim & Leticia Wouk Almino, Inbar Kishoni, Lauren Kogod & David Smiley, Maggie Kraus, Metropolitan Paper Recycling Inc., Ayanna Oliver-Taylor, Jeremy Robinson-Leon, Tal Schori, Leigh Taylor, Chat Travieso, Wax Studios, Dan Wiley, Mariel Villere & Alexander Bender, Mari Yahagi, the CUP Board of Directors, and more than 450 CUP supporters.
Additional support was provided through a Teach For America – Reinvention Lab Enduring Ideas Award.
