How Black Mothers Organize Against Police Violence

May 17, 2024

, a new documentary released by ahead of the fourth anniversary of the police murder of George Floyd, highlights how Black mothers cope with the most unimaginable loss of their lives.聽

The film, directed by award-winning Brazilian documentarian , centers Rev. Wanda Johnson, the mother of Oscar Grant. Johnson acts as a mentor to other women like her whose sons and daughters have been beaten, brutalized, and murdered by police and explores a movement of mothers determined to prevent more children from being victimized by the same system.聽

Johnson and Silva spoke with YES! Senior Editor Sonali Kolhatkar on YES! Presents: Rising Up With Sonali about the film, which is currently streaming on Netflix.

Sonali Kolhatkar joined YES! in summer 2021, building on a long and decorated career in broadcast and print journalism. She is an award-winning multimedia journalist, and host and creator of聽YES! Presents: Rising Up with Sonali, a nationally syndicated television and radio program airing on Free Speech TV and dozens of independent and community radio stations. She is also Senior Correspondent with the Independent 麻豆社事件 Institute鈥檚 Economy for All project where she writes a weekly column. She is the author of聽Rising Up: The Power of Narrative in Pursuing Racial Justice聽(2023) and聽Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence聽(2005). Her forthcoming book is called聽Talking About Abolition聽(Seven Stories Press, 2025). Sonali is co-director of the nonprofit group, Afghan Women鈥檚 Mission which she helped to co-found in 2000. She has a Master鈥檚 in Astronomy from the University of Hawai鈥檌, and two undergraduate degrees in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin. Sonali reflects on 鈥淢y Journey From Astrophysicist to Radio Host鈥� in her 2014聽聽of the same name.