On this edition of In Black America, producer/host John L. Hanson Jr. speaks with Phil Allen Jr., pastor, poet, storyteller, filmmaker, justice advocate and author of ‘The Prophetic Lens: The Camera and Black Moral Agency from MLK to Darnella Frazier.’
The camera lens is a potent tool for revealing the truth and guiding us toward just outcomes. For the African American community - where the default has historically been one of ‘presumed guilt’ rather than ‘innocent until proven guilty’ - the capacity of the camera to act as a witness to injustice and help focus our country’s attention on painful realities has been even more imperative.
Allen talks about the crucial role that the camera has played in African Americans’ quest to achieve justice for racially motivated tragedies. Would there have been a Civil Rights Movement and Black Lives Matter without the camera; and did Derek Chauvin’s body camera or those on nearby businesses, yield images of equal clarity and power as Darnella Frazier’s cell phone did of George Floyd’s death.
