Independent London filmmaker Harry Jackson has released a satirical short film, “Stop and Search”, which exposes institutional racism in the UK.
The film features Alessandro Babalola and Selom Awadzi as two black men who stop white police officers (Phil Barantini and Dean Kilbey) in the street. The officers are searched after being seen eating chips on a public bench, as they “fit the profile”.
“How you feel right now? Humiliated, yeah?” Babalola’s character asks one officer in the clip. “Like it’s us against you? Like it’s all we ever expected from you?”
“If you’re black in the UK, the police are 10 times more likely to stop and search you,” the film’s tag reads, “How would they feel if it was the other way around?”
“Despite us being in lock down for half of March, there were still 30,608 searches in April 2020 during lock down.
This is higher than any number before 2020,” filmmaker Jackson explained, “As we know this disproportionately impacts black people. True to the statistics, sadly both Alessandro and Selom have been stopped and searched themselves.
“BAME people have also been 54 per cent more likely to be fined under coronavirus restrictions. With the recent George Floyd tragedy, it feels like a good time or us to re-examine the problems we have in the UK.”
