Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense
Lawyers will launch their “As a Matter of Law” series and commemorate MLK50 by
screening the Memphis-made documentary Who
Will Watch the Watchers? March 30.
“As a Matter of Law: Who Will Watch the
Watchers? Screening and Discussion with Filmmaker Gary Moore” will begin at 6
p.m. at the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, 1 North
Front Street, in the Wade Auditorium.
Who Will Watch
the Watchers? tracks the struggles of citizens who were arrested for
filming police, then sought justice at City Hall in an election year. The film
covers 21st Century hot topics such as citizen videos of police
shootings, Black Lives Matter, the police-community divide and the condition of
the First Amendment in the Trump era.
The feature-length documentary presents something of a case study in
grass roots organizing as citizens sought to bring back the Civilian Law
Enforcement Review Board (CLERB).
The screening is free of charge and open
to the public. It is sponsored by Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense
Lawyers, Project Mass Incarceration and the Black Law Students Association.
“TACDL is starting a series of
presentations called ‘As a Matter of Law,’ which will focus on specifics of defending
criminal matters, examining issues that might arise in that process, and we
want this film to serve as the subject of the first presentation,” said David
“Hawk” Allen, president of the Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense
Lawyers, Memphis Law Chapter.
Who Will Watch
the Watchers? world-premiered in Los Angeles last fall at the Justice
on Trial Film Festival.
The film follows the Memphis United
coalition, which fought for police accountability and the revival of the
Civilian Law Enforcement Review Board in 2015 and which rode a roller coaster
of emotional ups and downs in their campaign. A Memphis police officer shot and
killed unarmed back-seat passenger Darrius Stewart in the middle of the
movement, and organizers and others were targeted in 2017 in a “black list” of
persons who were required to be escorted at City Hall.
Paul Garner, organizing director at the
Mid-South Peace and Justice Center, led the movement after being arrested for
attempting to film police outside Manna House homeless refuge Oct. 21, 2013.
Four days later citizens filmed police arresting two persons and breaking up a
Trolley Night hip-hop cypher on South Main Street.
In addition to dealing with First
Amendment issues, the film relates the Fourth Amendment and the landmark
Supreme Court case out of Memphis, Tennessee vs. Garner, in how law enforcement
officers may or may not use force to stop fleeing suspects.
Freedom Rider Rip Patton narrates the
film trailer and the opening and closing sequences of the film.
Moore Media & Entertainment also
produced the comedy short, “The Suburban Itch,” and is producing a documentary
on the removal of Confederate statues in Memphis and other cities.
Link
to film trailer:
Link
to film poster sized for Internet:
Link
to Memphis Flyer story:
