In this project, I address police brutality. As a victim of this authoritarian violence, I am anything but objective. This is also not my intention.

“The police are your friends” Is the old saying.

I have never been beaten with a baton by my friends. I have never had to flee from my friends for fear of incarceration. I never get panicky and paranoid when I see my friends.

The stories you will hear have really happened. The individuals are anonymous for their own safety. This is because we know that the police tend to harass or physically attack persons who speak out against them.

Do not take this protection as a weakness.

As you listen to the various stories, I hope you listen. Indeed, you may find it difficult to empathize with these experiences. Police violence and being in contact with police rarely have anything to do with crime. Socio-economic conditions such as poverty and poor education along with a lack of extracurricular activities contribute to a repelled youth on the streets.

The youth who are here are vulnerable to multiple hostile aspects. Poverty, boredom, toxic masculinity, and the astronomical desire to "be rich" create a toxic cocktail of bad conditions.  The rarefied nature of the capitalist dream is mainly related to cultural expectations. We cannot deny that the proletariat rightly wants to escape this class.

This quest is complicated when you are refused at every job interview. If you are allowed to come at all. This leaves some with no other option but crime.

No one chooses this. The risks are known. For too long, Western media has romanticized these risks and lifestyles. For too long news has focused only on crime, using the language of racism and xenophobia. The environment one grows up in is what shapes one. To criminalize and target them for this is the fastest way to division and further separation in communication and search for a solution.

At the end of the day, everyone wants safety.