美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Shots Fired' Creators Want To 'Challenge Your Perspective' On Police Shootings

 

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

We're going to close things out today by hearing about a new program that opens with a scene all too familiar from the nightly news - a young man is dead in the street, shot by a police officer who thought he saw a weapon. It turns out there was no weapon. But that's not all. The script to which we've become accustomed is also flipped² because the officer is black and the victim is white.

That's the premise³ of the provocative⁴ new TV drama "Shots Fired." It's a 10-episode series on FOX by the husband and wife team Reggie Rock Bythewood and Gina Prince-Bythewood, who also wrote the script for the first episode and directed it. They were both nice enough to join us from NPR West in Culver City, Calif. Reggie Rock Bythewood, Gina Prince-Bythewood, thank you so much for coming in.

REGGIE ROCK BYTHEWOOD: Thank you. Thanks for having us.

GINA PRINCE-BYTHEWOOD: Thank you.

MARTIN: Let me start with a clip from the pilot episode. This is the scene where a special prosecutor⁵ from the Department of Justice, who's played by Stephan James, gives a press conference as he's just starting his investigation⁶ of the shooting.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SHOTS FIRED")

STEPHAN JAMES: (As Preston Terry) As a prosecutor, it is my job to ignore all personal biases⁷ and to focus on the truth. Now, I must admit that can be hard. It can be tough. See, when I watch recent video of Laquan McDonald, of Tamir Rice, of Walter Scott shot in the back, murdered while running away from a child support payment, I am sickened - sickened by the lack of humanity displayed by those officers and angered at the arrogance⁸ of their lives.

MARTIN: Now, let me mention here that the prosecutor is also African-American. But the men mentioned here - Laquan McDonald, Tamir Rice, Walter Scott - these are all real cases of unarmed black men shot by the police. So why did you decide to flip¹ the usual script, as we said, and at least start the series with a black cop shooting this white young man? Reggie, do you want to start?

BYTHEWOOD: Well, we were really, really inspired with the outcome of the Zimmerman trial. It's a case that I - you know, I watched that verdict come in with my boy, who was - the oldest son, who was 12 at the time. And instead of hugging and consoling him I opened up the laptop and showed him this Emmett Till documentary on YouTube. And we talked about the criminal justice system and how it's worked in this country, and how in many ways it has not worked.

And that - those series of conversations really inspired us to want to do something in this space. And when we started talking about how to open up the show, we thought about, you know, so much that we saw around the Zimmerman trial were, like, these letters and donations coming in across the country for Zimmerman. And it was almost like people could not connect or, like, see Trayvon as what he was, which is a kid. And so we thought by just having a white kid being killed helps you to examine it almost through a different set of eyes and challenge your perspectives in a different way.

PRINCE-BYTHEWOOD: And that's really, you know, exactly what Preston says in the clip that you played, that he's there to look at this case and see these two men and see their humanity. And that's really, as a artist, what we wanted to do and why we decided⁹ to flip.

MARTIN: Reggie, do you have some thoughts about what you're hoping that people will draw from this or how you are hoping people will approach this? I mean, you mentioned earlier, you have - you and Gina have two sons, right?

BYTHEWOOD: Yes. Yes.

MARTIN: And so - but that's a particular - and you are both African-American. You have a particular kind of life experience that you're going to see things through that lens. What are you hoping for? Because presumably you're hoping that lots of people with lots of life experiences will approach this.

BYTHEWOOD: One of the things that was very important for us is that we - well, we created something that we called Shots Fired University, which was basically this very intense research process that we did with our writing staff where we spoke¹⁰ with people like Eric Holder¹¹. We spoke with former Police Commissioner¹² Ray Kelly. We also spoke with Wanda Johnson, mother of Oscar Grant. Oscar Grant is the young man that was killed in northern California and they made "Fruitvale Station" about him. So we had, like, these various points of view that were very important for us to tell this narrative¹³.

And, you know, look, on another side of it, yeah, you know, we have - our oldest boy is 16 and will be driving soon. And on another side, though, you know, my grandfather, who I was very close with, he was a police officer. He was a police officer in New York. He's also the person that gave me the talk. You know, he told me what to do not if but when a racist¹⁴ cop pulls you over.

And so one of the things I would hope is that I hope that, you know, we don't have to continue through generation to generation to pass on this same talk per se. But ultimately, we do believe that, you know, the only way to make things improve is for community and police to work together.

MARTIN: Both of you talked about real things. I mean, 2016 was a year that really brought this issue of police conduct to light for a lot of people. I mean, obviously not for everybody because a lot of people have been thinking about this for quite some time. But then there was this - it seems as though it was like one incident after another. Just in one week in July, Alton Sterling¹⁵ and Philando Castile were killed by police, and a few days later law enforcement officers in Dallas were ambushed¹⁶.

And I was wondering, you know, if that added an extra layer for you as artists. I mean, something that is very real, that is right - very right now, and that a lot of people watching your work will have personal knowledge of, will have been watching very closely themselves. I wonder, did that add an extra layer for either of you?

PRINCE-BYTHEWOOD: Absolutely. It added an extra layer for Reggie and I, for the writing staff and really for the cast as well. Those shootings happened at the same time that we were shooting. And especially with the Philando Castile - that shooting, you know, so many of us saw the Facebook live and watched that and were so rocked by it. And then coming to work the next day it just stopped everyone. And our first AD, a black woman named Shawn Pipkin, she was just wrecked¹⁷.

And she called everyone together, the entire crew and cast, and did a prayer circle and just asked for grace. And that was a really beautiful way to start the day because it grounded all of us in remembrance of what we are doing, the responsibility that we have to honor these people that are losing their lives unnecessarily.

MARTIN: You know, I'm struck by something in entertainment, which is that there are so many television programs and movies that are tackling issues around race, ethnicity, diversity, social justice from all these different vantage points. I mean, you know, "Hidden Figures" is a huge hit. "Get Out" was a huge hit. And yet at the same time, there's a whole group of people politically who have made it clear that those issues are not priorities for them.

The current attorney general has said that he wants to review current police reform initiatives and consent decrees that had been opened or that are ongoing¹⁸ in cities like Chicago and Baltimore. And so I guess that's what I'm wondering, is in part - I mean, is this - are we two different countries with two different sets of priorities? I mean, is there, like, a creative class which is thinking about different things? And are there, say, a political class which has different priorities? What do you think?

PRINCE-BYTHEWOOD: You know, it is a tough period in our country right now. I think our show, what we're hoping is to start bridging some of these fissures¹⁹. And we need to come at each other not as race but where we're coming from.

BYTHEWOOD: And the reality is, too, like, for us as artists, it's our job to be idealistic and not foolish. And - but, you know, look, we really do unapologetically approach this like, hey, let's make the world a better place. And so what we've had to do is to create a narrative that doesn't feel preachy and stuff like that. But we clearly wanted to create a really great mystery that challenges perspectives and can get people talking to each other, not at each other.

MARTIN: I gave Reggie the first word, so, Gina, we're going to give you the last word. Reactions so far - have there been any reactions so far that were particularly meaningful to you?

PRINCE-BYTHEWOOD: I think one of the most interesting reactions has been the way people have gone into the show. I remember one woman reached out and she said that it was so conflicting for her to watch it because her sympathies kept shifting to people that she normally wouldn't think she would sympathize with. And that - this was a black woman - and that was, you know, great for us because that is what we're doing and hoping to do, again, of creating empathy and putting people into every seat in the house.

MARTIN: That's Gina Prince-Bythewood and Reggie Rock Bythewood. They are the creators of "Shots Fired." That's a 10-episode series on the Fox Network. Thank you both so much for speaking with us.

BYTHEWOOD: Thank you very much.

PRINCE-BYTHEWOOD: Thank you.

BYTHEWOOD: Appreciate it.

(SOUNDBITE OF BOMBAY ORCHESTRA'S "STRANGE CONSTELLATIONS")

MARTIN: And we want to close tonight with another poem. This one's from Joanne Hall (ph) in Madison, Miss.

JOANNE HALL: Old man in the corner, tell me the story once more and I'll listen as though I've never heard a word of it before.

MARTIN: Speaking of hearing things once more.

HALL: Old man in the corner, tell me the story once more and I'll listen as though I've never heard a word of it before.

MARTIN: Thank you, Joanne. For Saturday, April 8, this has been ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Michel Martin. We're back tomorrow. Until then, thank you for listening, and we hope you have a great night.

1 flip   

vt.快速翻动；轻抛；轻拍；n.轻抛；adj.轻浮的

参考例句：

• I had a quick flip through the book and it looked very interesting.我很快翻阅了一下那本书，看来似乎很有趣。
• Let's flip a coin to see who pays the bill.咱们来抛硬币决定谁付钱。

2 flipped   

轻弹( flip的过去式和过去分词 )； 按（开关）； 快速翻转； 急挥

参考例句：

• The plane flipped and crashed. 飞机猛地翻转，撞毁了。
• The carter flipped at the horse with his whip. 赶大车的人扬鞭朝着马轻轻地抽打。

3 premise   

n.前提；v.提论，预述

参考例句：

• Let me premise my argument with a bit of history.让我引述一些史实作为我立论的前提。
• We can deduce a conclusion from the premise.我们可以从这个前提推出结论。

4 provocative   

adj.挑衅的，煽动的，刺激的，挑逗的

参考例句：

• She wore a very provocative dress.她穿了一件非常性感的裙子。
• His provocative words only fueled the argument further.他的挑衅性讲话只能使争论进一步激化。

5 prosecutor   

n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人

参考例句：

• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
• The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。

6 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

7 biases   

偏见( bias的名词复数 )； 偏爱； 特殊能力； 斜纹

参考例句：

• Stereotypes represent designer or researcher biases and assumptions, rather than factual data. 它代表设计师或者研究者的偏见和假设，而不是实际的数据。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• The net effect of biases on international comparisons is easily summarized. 偏差对国际比较的基本影响容易概括。

8 arrogance   

n.傲慢，自大

参考例句：

• His arrogance comes out in every speech he makes.他每次讲话都表现得骄傲自大。
• Arrogance arrested his progress.骄傲阻碍了他的进步。

9 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

10 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

11 holder   

n.持有者，占有者；(台，架等)支持物

参考例句：

• The holder of the office of chairman is reponsible for arranging meetings.担任主席职位的人负责安排会议。
• That runner is the holder of the world record for the hundred-yard dash.那位运动员是一百码赛跑世界纪录的保持者。

12 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

13 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

14 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

15 sterling   

adj.英币的(纯粹的，货真价实的)；n.英国货币(英镑)

参考例句：

• Could you tell me the current rate for sterling, please?能否请您告诉我现行英国货币的兑换率？
• Sterling has recently been strong,which will help to abate inflationary pressures.英国货币最近非常坚挺，这有助于减轻通胀压力。

16 ambushed   

v.埋伏( ambush的过去式和过去分词 )；埋伏着

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The military vehicles were ambushed. 军车遭到伏击。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 wrecked   

adj.失事的，遇难的

参考例句：

• the hulk of a wrecked ship 遇难轮船的残骸
• the salvage of the wrecked tanker 对失事油轮的打捞

18 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

19 fissures   

n.狭长裂缝或裂隙( fissure的名词复数 )；裂伤；分歧；分裂v.裂开( fissure的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Rising molten rock flows out on the ocean floor and caps the fissures, trapping the water. 上升熔岩流到海底并堵住了裂隙，结果把海水封在里面。 来自辞典例句
• The French have held two colloquia and an international symposium on rock fissures. 法国已经开了两次岩石裂缝方面的报告会和一个国际会议。 来自辞典例句