‘Do Not Resist’ screened for NCCC criminal justice students

WINSTED — Northwestern Connecticut Community College’s (NCCC) Journalism Club and the Winsted Area Peace Action Group co-sponsored a screening of the 2016 documentary “Do Not Resist” on Monday, Nov. 21.

The screening was held at the college’s Arts and Science Building.

NCCC librarian Seth Kershner hosted a panel discussion after the film which included retired police lieutenant and NCCC criminal justice professor Michael Emmanuel, Hartford Bishop Dr. John Selders and retired professor Francis Moulders of Winsted Area Peace Action.

“Do Not Resist” focuses on police militarization in the United States, beginning with the streets of Ferguson, Mo., where the local community grapples with the 2014 death of Michael Brown, an unarmed teenager shot by white police officer Darren Wilson.

After the documentary, NCCC criminal justice students had a chance to share reactions and ask the panel questions. 

“This film is very hard for me to watch,” Selders said to open comments during the discussion. Selders was born and raised in St. Louis, Mo. The tragedy in Ferguson had inspired Selders to travel from Connecticut to Missouri and back, where he eventually started to work within the Black Lives Matter movement.

Later, Selders helped to co-found the North Carolina based Moral Monday Movement, which covers a wide array of social justice issues, including police brutality and overreach, mass incarceration, lack of access to jobs, healthcare and housing.

“Darren Wilson said that Mike Brown looked like a demon, and therefore needed to be taken down,” Selders said.  “I’m alarmed by those words. I’m in a room full of folks who are going to be in some part of law enforcement, and I need you to have some values that speak for you and speak for this nation.”

According to Selders, African Americans make up 13 percent of the population, but two-thirds of those who are incarcerated. 

“We didn’t have policing like this 100 years ago,” Selders said. “Where did we go wrong that now our police are using military weaponry to put down disturbances? Race and white supremacy are intrinsically involved in the nature of how this all happens and we need to start asking questions of ourselves as a society.”

Moulders asked students present at the event to think about police militarisation in the United States today. “Are so many police departments responding to problems that are complex, and multifaceted, with one answer, which is violence?” Moulders asked. “Aren’t we as a country starting to use violence as sort of our strategy of first choice with regard to these kinds of complex issues that we face? Are there alternative approaches that might be better, more moral, more effective and without all of the human cost that we saw in this film?” 

Moulders said that she thought he film could have done a better job in terms of posing some of the nonviolent alternatives that are available.

Discussion amongs students spurred topics such as how mainstream media sensationalizes certain events.

Another topic of discussion for the students was how poor education and poverty factor into violent crime.

“The majority of police are good,” Emmanuel said. “There are a few bad apples that tarnish the badge. At the end of the day, the drug problem is a police problem, it’s a community problem and it’s a medical problem. Especially with the heroin and the fentanyl going on right now. Sometimes just to get people into the system for the initial arrest, it might be a way, but it might not be the best way. I think the most important thing, both on the police and the public, is knowing and respecting each other.”