Jordan Riefe: ‘Do Not Resist’ Confronts the Frightening Militarization of American Police

In the days following last year’s Charleston church shooting, in which nine African-Americans were murdered by a white supremacist, an armored vehicle rolled up to a modest home in nearby Richland County, S.C. Fifteen SWAT team cops in body armor jumped out and smashed the windows of the house.

“Can you do shit like that?” the homeowner asked one of the cops. “I mean, we gotta pay for the fucking windows? That’s some shit right there.” Acting on an anonymous tip about a drug lord, the police found less than a gram of weed in the bottom of a book bag and arrested the homeowner’s 22-year-old son, a student at nearby Denmark Technical College.

“He was supposed to be a drug kingpin. Come to find out he was there with his mom and dad, sister and her 4-month-old baby,” said filmmaker Craig Atkinson, whose new documentary, “Do Not Resist,” addresses the militarization of law enforcement. The film currently is playing in New York theaters and opens in Los Angeles Friday, with other markets to follow....
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