Release Us: A Powerful Short Film on Police Brutality

500 innocent Americans are murdered by police every year (USDOJ). 5,000 since 9/11, equal to the number of US soldiers lost in Iraq. 

In 1994 the US Government passed a law authorizing the Pentagon to donate surplus Cold War era military equipment to local police departments.

In the 20 years since, weaponry designed for use on a foreign battlefield, has been handed over for use on American streets...against American citizens.

The "War on Drugs" and the "War on Terror" replaced the Cold War with billions in funding and dozens of laws geared towards this new "war" against its own citizens.

This militarization of the police force has created what is being called an "epidemic of police brutality" sweeping the nation.

A NOTE ABOUT THE INCLUSION OF TRAYVON MARTIN
"The inclusion of Trayvon Martin in this video was inspired by the Directors of 'No Justice, No Peace," who dedicated their film to him along with the victims of police brutality. Although I concede that Trayvon Martin was not killed by a police officer, I chose to include him because his murder at the hands of George Zimmerman is representative of American Law Enforcement's general attitude towards young Black males (the single largest demographic of those murdered by police), and the "Stand Your Ground Law" which motivated Zimmerman to hunt Trayvon Martin down and shoot him is a law which Florida Law Enforcement fully supports, ergo, creating an extension of the police through this dangerous and aberrant form of 'Community Policing.' I do not expect everyone to understand or accept this, but it is a choice I stand behind in the hopes that his inclusion makes a statement and fosters further dialogue about the use of force in America."

~ Charles Shaw, Director