By
Charles Brooks
We paid attention and took notice
of the disturbing trend. We read the stories and saw the videos of not
only blatant police harassment but of vicious police violence visited not on Black men – but on Black and Brown women, as well.
All across the country we saw it over and over - Black women pushed,
punched, kicked, and at times suffering this violence while being handcuffed by
the police. In those cases that did manage to reach national attention, we saw
that these Black women were college professors, house wives, bathing suit clad
teenagers and yes – even pregnant Black women felt the brunt of this police
violence.
Curiously, let’s
start with the name of the film – The Throwaways. What immediately comes to mind when you think
of term throwaways - what comes to mind first? Items, things that you no longer
want or need. An item that is no longer working or has passed its usefulness to
you. Items or things that do not meet
your needs or demands any more. Spoiled food, batteries, shoes, clothes…the
list can go on and on for sure. This film, The
Throwaways is not about things but about people – people who are routinely
dismissed, neglected, and yes – thrown away. Think about that for minute or two
- the high school dropout, unemployed, the homeless, the drug addict, and yes,
your convicted ex-felon are your typical throwaways. There’s this notion that they are less than
human with little or no value. Simply put,
they’re not look upon in the same way as those whose humanity is recognized. Featured in the film is Michelle Alexander, author of widely acclaimed, The
New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the age of Age of Colorblindness explains
it this way in the film:”… That’s ultimately
what The Throwaways is all about, right… groups of people who are
defined as different enough that you don’t have to care and can be just thrown
away…”
