Ava DuVernay virtually connected with Black leaders and activists Tuesday to discuss the Black Lives movement of Matter and the efforts to dismantle racial oppression. The conversation — a part of Oprah Winfrey’s two-night town hall entitled “Where do we go From Here?” — explored a range of topics, including media representation of the events that took place after the death of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery.
To call the coverage of the protests and looting, “confused,” Ava spoke about the importance of staying focused on the larger issue of systematic racism. “You have friends that have said, you know, ‘Gosh, that they are losing the message. It is diluting the message, because, you know, the protest in the day and that the spoils of the night. This is, you know, taking the steam away from the mission can be,'” she said. “I really invite people to think about, you know, if your concern with the murder of Black people by the police can be deterred, or moved because someone is taking a pair of jeans from a Target, then you have to see how much they cared about the murder of Black people by the police, for a start. It is as if, ” I was going to the attention of Black people being murdered, but that man took the shoes, so I don’t know now.’ That is how ridiculous that sounds to me.”
She then encouraged people to examine the way in which they think about all of the events that have happened in the last few weeks. “This is a forward-thinking people — people who truly believe in justice and dignity for all, I know all sorts of people who feel that way,” he said. “See yourself as you are playing this game of respectability politics because you’re in a place that really leans out of the path of what the point at issue is, which starts from the place of the murder of Black people by the police and the reality, is open to a cross-examination of a complete system.”
Ahead, watch Ava talk more about the discussions around the demonstrations, then take a look at the full conversation with Oprah, Stacey Abrams, Charles M. Blow, Keisha Lance Bottoms, Jennifer Eberhardt, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Ibram Kendi, David Oyelowo, Rashad Robinson, and the Bishop William J. Barber II.
