Objectives

• To highlight police violence, systemic racism, and use of excessive force against people of color, even when it doesn't end in murder;
• To call out rampant ineptitude in deescalation and community policing as race-based cop violence becomes a more central part of the social conversation 
• To give voice to a victim of profiling and state violence 

Strategy and Execution

Police body-cam footage of their encounter with Antonio Smith told most of this story without our help, including the moment the cops realize they'd been brutalizing an innocent man. We optimized several minutes of this footage with minimal editorial, as the cops' negligence of their duty to protect and to serve and Smith's wrongful victimization said more about the state of race in the criminal justice system than we ever could. 

Results

The video was viewed nearly 7 million times, performing more than 70 times better than our average post. Most viewers stayed engaged with the video through the 2-minute mark. The video spread fast, winning some big-name shares from actor Michael Rappaport and content creator King Bach. 

Media