BET Networks hosted a screening of the award-winning Truth Series documentary “Charged: The DA vs. Black America”, and a panel discussion moderated by political commentator and activist Jeff Johnson. It featured Shoshana Guy (the documentary’s director/producer), Color of Change Executive Director Rashad Robinson, rapper/activist David Banner, Tamika Mallory (civil rights leader and anti-gun advocate), and Arva Rice (President and CEO of the New York Urban League). The event was in partnership with 100 Black Men, the New York Association of Black Journalists and the New York Urban League.
#Charged is an alarming wake up call regarding the absolute power of the District Attorney. With an in-depth and unprecedented look into the DA’s impact on individuals and families across the country, the documentary exposes how these elected prosecutors have contributed to the mass incarceration of Black men. Today, there are more African-American men in prison, on parole or on probation than were enslaved in 1850.
It is the D.A. – not the police – that decides who becomes part of the system.