TONIGHT

• Home
• Video
• Podcasts/RSS 
• Archives
• Young Voices
• About the Show
• Tell Tavis
• Features
• Mobile

RELATED LINKS

• Every Mother's Son on PBS
• Longer bio on Ms. Anderson
• AndersonGold Films

E-mail a friend

Tavis: On August 17th, the 'P.O.V.' documentary series seen here on PBS continues with a film about police brutality. This documentary includes the story of Amadou Diallo. Back in 1999, Mr. Diallo, a West African immigrant living in New York City, was killed by police who fired 41 shots at him. This case and two others are the basis of the film 'Every Mother's Son.' Here's a scene now from 'Every Mother's Son.'

[Clip]

Tavis: I'm pleased to welcome to the program the co-director and producer of 'Every Mother's Son,' Kelly Anderson, who joins us tonight from New York, along with Amadou Diallo's mother, Kadiatou Diallo. Nice to have you both on the program.

Kelly Anderson: Thank you, nice to be here.

Diallo: Thank you for having us.

Tavis: It's my pleasure to have you. Mrs. Diallo, let me start with you. I cannot believe it's been five years since Amadou's death. does it seem like five years for you?

Diallo: Well, um, my lifetime now has been so long, and so near and so far at the same time dealing with this situation. When you lose a loved one, you live with it for the rest of your life. I have been through the system, and learned step by step about the criminal justice system, about my son's death, what caused his death, and I want to dedicate my life to prevent this from happening again. This is why I join with these two mothers, who we shared the common grief and the same experience to do this piece so the world will know more about this issue, and possibly make something about this.

Tavis: I hear the point you make about the fact that one never closes on a loved one. You kind of close on a house, but you never close on the death of a loved one. I hear you and I understand that. Let me ask you, though, to your point about what you have learned having to deal with our system of jurisprudence, our criminal justice system, what's the most disappointing thing you've had to endure dealing with the system, aside, of course, from the fact that your son was shot at 41 times by cops in New York City?

Diallo: As I said, I have learned a lot. And I was really hopeful at the beginning that those four officers who killed Amadou will in fact be at least held accountable for the action that took my son's life. But at the end, we were not only let down in New York City, the trial had been moved to Albany in rural upstate New York. And then they acquitted the four officers who killed my son and after that, even the NYPD internal investigation decided not to bring any punishment to the officers. And we went to the federal department and asked for the government to look into it so that we will try to get a civil rights violation charges against the four officers for killing Amadou and violating his right. Well, we were let down, step by step.

I have learned so much in the country because I travel around the country to speak about this issue to raise awareness on the issue, and I have been listening to young, black men and Latinos and minority people telling me about their frustration. In fact, this is a very difficult situation on the criminal justice system. I never had any experience prior to my son's death, but now I can tell you I have learned a lot.

Tavis: Let me ask you, you made the point earlier as did I, that this film, this documentary really focuses on the lives of three mothers who've all lost their sons to violence or police brutality. When you and these two other mothers got together or get together, what do you talk about? Is the experience therapeutic for the three of you to be together?

Diallo: Well, we never planned to do that, but we connected right away, especially with Iris Baez. She came to the National Action Network the first time I went to the rally vigil, and she came and really lent her support to me. We shared, most importantly, what we share in common is our faith and how we are dealing with our grief and wanting to do a change, not to let our sons died in vain. I think this is--the connections was right away, but I must tell you that three of us have different faiths, but what united us was the thing that we shared for the love of our children and the frustration that we all went through. Doris Boskey is the same. I think her son was killed last. The first was Mrs. Baez who lost her child and me and Doris Boskey, but we all connected right away, and we have been talking on the phone. When someone is down, one of us is down, we speak to each other on the phone and we meet from time to time. I think this is a healing process for us.

Tavis: I hope so. Kelly, let me ask you, beyond the obvious, which is that these are three cases of police brutality, as a filmmaker, how do you weave these three very different stories together? As Ms. Diallo says, they all have different faiths, different beliefs, different backgrounds, different cultures. How do you weave a sad story like this together to make sense for the viewer? Kelly

Anderson: Well, these three women have very powerful stories, and so they're really the backbone of the show, and the fact that they were able to come together even though they're so different from one another and engage in this struggle made it a very compelling story. I would say that each one of the three stories represents a different aspect of the problem. It was very important for us not to just focus on the sentimentality of the topic, but instead to really tease out what are the problems with policing and with the criminal justice system when it deals with trying to prosecute police officers.

Tavis: Let me jump in right quick and ask you whether you believe there is 'sentimentality' around the issue of police brutality. You believe that?

Anderson: No. I mean, I think it's a very sad issue, but I think it's very important to not just give people a reason to be depressed because, believe me, these are depressing stories. These women were not able to get justice through the justice system and they've been fighting, you know, you mentioned how long it's been. It feels longer because they've never, ever in a court of law had somebody say something was done that was wrong.

Tavis: So for the three women in your story and for the countless other mothers around the country who have had to deal with this, and God forbid, those who down the road might have to deal with it, where's the hope? Where's the reason to believe that they will find some modicum of justice?

Anderson: Well, I think that public consciousness around this issue is growing. I mean, there was a moment when we first started making the film in 1999, when there was a real movement of family members who had been impacted by police violence and they were coming together nationally around the country. What happened on 9/11 unfortunately took some of the wind and the steam out of that movement, but the problem is still there. I mean, 44 people have been killed in New York City alone by police officers or by law enforcement since Mayor Bloomberg came into office and one of those officers was indicted. So there's still a big problem and things have not gotten better.

Tavis: And yet, Kelly, as significant a number as 44 is, I think most Americans still see this tragic, sad, depressing though it might be, as somebody else's issue. Nobody ever expects their loved one to be the victim of police brutality, and by and large, we still think that police are law-abiding persons who protect and serve. And for the most part, they are. But how do you get folk to feel a story like this when they think it's usually somebody else's? 'That's Ms. Diallo's story, Ms. Baez's story, not my story.'

Anderson: Well, it's very important for us to make a film that would reach out. This is going to be on public television across the country on August 17th. It's really important for us that people who don't live in poor, urban areas understand what happens to people at the hands of the police on a daily basis: that it's very normal for people in many parts of this country to be stopped, questioned, frisked, for no reason at all on the streets of many communities in New York City and across the country. So to me, it was very important. I mean, I don't come from a neighborhood where that happens, and it was very important for me that other people be able to see that, you know, we all have a stake in making sure that policing is effective and fair. And I think a lot of people feel that there's a trade-off. You know, to be safe, there has to be accidents like this, like what happened to Amadou. I think it's a false equation.

Tavis: But to your point, though, that you don't come from a community that, too often, almost never has to deal with something like this. Your community is that same community, respectfully, where most of the movers and shakers in this country live and work and play, so how do we get their attention?

Diallo: Tavis, let me jump into this. I want them to relate to that story. Our children have been killed. They should look at them as their own children so that they can relate to this story. This story is going to be on PBS. Let them watch it and hear the three mothers speaking of their loss and their grief and their hope. Hopefully, that will raise more awareness and it will help stimulate the issue to be discussed around the kitchen table and influence the public to know that we need strong laws to protect the people equally, not only the rich area, and live in the poor--many people, when something happen, they say, 'Oh, unfortunately, but the police is doing good job.' We understand the police is doing good job, but there is no excuse for our children to be killed like that.

Tavis: Let me give you the last word, Ms. Diallo. I hear the advice you've offered to the American public, certainly those movers and shakers who watch PBS, but let me ask you finally very quickly, what do you say to mothers who are grieving? Mothers who have endured this process, still trying to find justice, may never find it? As you talk to mothers around the country, what do you say to them specifically?

Diallo: I personally have even recently talked to Mrs. Clairborne about her son who was killed at the rooftop in Brooklyn. When I got into her house I decided to go in private and just to hold her and hug her and pray with her. We went into the bedroom of her son's, you know, her late son's bedroom, and I saw his belongings. I told her the road is hard, it's very painful. Sometimes you will feel down, but sometimes you need strength and prayers. It's OK to cry, but it's OK to understand that if you get up, it's good for you. Then you will look back and say, 'I did something.' It is very hard, but the road is very long and it's very lonely. I told them that if they need me, I'm here. And Mrs. Baez did that, also, Doris Boskey. We all speak to families who are victims, but we do not want to be a victim. We want to be the people who will be involved. As I said in the piece that is going to be on television, we want to be part of the solution, and we want to continue to go on and bring changes.

Tavis: Ms. Diallo and Kelly Anderson, thank you both for your courage and your conviction and your commitment. Thanks for this project. The project again is called 'Every Mother's Son.' It premieres August 17th on 'P.O.V.' August 17th, my mother's birthday, in fact, on PBS. Check it out. Nice to see you both and all the best to you.

Anderson and Diallo: Thank you, Tavis.