Activist, writer Kevin Powell blasts police for 'racially profiling' Compton film
theGrio REPORT - Kevin Powell is upset with the Los Angeles Police Department as well as other agencies that are stepping up security measures for the release of the movie Straight Outta Compton. Accoring to Powell, the increased security is just another way that police are "racially profiling" the movie.
Kevin Powell is upset with the Los Angeles Police Department as well as other agencies that are stepping up security measures for the release of the movie Straight Outta Compton. Accoring to Powell, the increased security is just another way that police are “racially profiling” the movie.
“You know what, there were shootings at the ‘Batman’ screenings, we know about what happened in Colorado,” Powell said Saturday on CNN. “There were shootings at the ‘Trainwreck’ screening. We cannot racially profile movies.”
“We don’t want to racially profile people, we shouldn’t racially profile films,” he continued. “Yesterday, when I saw ‘Straight Outta Compton’ — black, white, Latino, Asian, multiple generations of people. They were all very peacefully seeing the film. So we’ve got to really think about what we’re saying when we make those kind of statements.”
Powell also criticized the film for failing to take into account the treatment of women by N.W.A.
“This is an opportunity to really examine, not just race in our country, but also violence against women and girls,” he said, noting that accusations of abuse against Dr. Dre “really happened.”
“Ice Cube, now in his forties, still refers to women by the B-word,” Powell said. “We’ve got to make progress. If we’re going to talk about racism in America, which this film talks about, we also have to be willing to talk about sexism, which is equally oppressive to half the population in this country and on this planet.”
“And I think that’s the glaring omission in the film,” he continued. “But I actually disagree with the director, F. Gary Gray, when he said that these are stories that are side stories. A woman’s life is not a side story. And we as men, if we’re serious — not just black men, but all men — if we’re serious about addressing any kind of inequities, we have to talk about the things that women deal with.”
