Civil rights attorney, constitutional law professor, legal correspondent, essayist and author Gloria J. Browne-Marshall is a familiar voice in conversations regarding police violence. She is a subject matter expert who has willingly contributed to several outlets across the nation – including the St. Louis American.
But Browne-Marshall felt like she had more to say. And she felt she needed a new platform to allow the type of creativity that could provide a broader scope of how the tragic deaths at the hands of police impact the involved parties and the community at large. Her desire compelled her to write for the stage.
“Like so many around the world, I remained angered and appalled by the murders with impunity of Americans – especially African Americans – by police,” Browne-Marshall said. “I had written articles, given legal commentary on television and expert analysis. However, I felt that it was only as a playwright that I could capture my anger and heartache while raising important questions that could be asked best by the victim and answered truthfully only by law enforcement – the killers.
“SHOT: Caught a Soul,” is her offering. In the play, a white police officer fatally shoots an unarmed Black teen, then is haunted, by the teen – and subsequently his own actions.
“In this play, I use a form or technique of writing that I call spiritual realism,” Browne-Marshall said as she introduced the virtual staged reading of the play she refers to as ‘SHOT.’ “It shows my influences by James Baldwin, Zora Neale Hurston and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Marquez, Baldwin and Hurston were all journalists. They wrote across genre and they infused their writing with activism.”
Produced by Law and Policy Group In and The Pulitzer Center, ‘SHOT’ was filmed last month as a virtual production. Directed by Jeffrey V. Thompson, ‘SHOT’ stars Khalil Addams-Pilgrim, Mike Timoney and Stephanie Berry.
Addams portrays Kareem, a 16-year-old unarmed teen shot down while waiting for a bus in the suburbs after being racially profiled by Officer O’Donald, played by Timoney. Each give their own perspectives about what happened in the moments leading up to and following the tragedy. Kareem was sent to live with his aunt to escape the negative influences in his neighborhood. O’Donald’s idea of “protect and serve” translates to serving his community by protecting it from the likes of Kareem – and anyone who looks like him.
While O’Donald sees Kareem as a threat, Kareem’s thoughts just before the shooting are that of any typical 16-year-old. He is satisfied with his average grades and he can’t wait to spend more time with his first girlfriend. He also joyfully anticipates things that he doesn’t realize that he will never get to experience because of an officer’s unwarranted fear that is rooted in bigotry and hatred.
“We don’t know who the good Blacks are,” O’Donald said.
O’Donald doesn’t bother seeing Kareem for who he is until it’s too late – when the ghost of Kareem confronts him, proving himself to be the innocent victim that he was.
“I have to live with what I’ve done,” O’Donald says as he begs Kareem to leave his head.
“But you get to live,” Kareem responds.
Over the course of the 30-minute production, O’Donald attempts to defend his actions, primarily to the soul of the life he took.
“I saw a gun,” O’Donald said.
“You saw what you wanted to see,” Kareem said.
By the end of the play, O’Donald appears to be on the verge of madness.
“Hate will make you lose your mind,” the spirit of Kareem tells O’Donald.
Supporting character Berry adds context to both sides of ‘SHOT’ as she plays O’Donald’s union representative and Kareem’s Aunt Janice.
“I hope it [‘SHOT’] will play a role in national criminal justice reform,” said Browne-Marshall, who is a professor of Constitutional Law at John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY), and teaches about the role of law currently and historically. “I hope it will raise questions and conversations and help us all to better understand the human and spiritual cost of police involved civilian shootings.”
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