Attending a Documentary Film Screening: Daughters (2 points)

    

    On October 26th, I attended a screening and a talk about the film Daughters. The co-director, Angela Patton, was at the screening, and she organized the program depicted in the film. The film centers on a program that allows incarcerated fathers to dance with their daughters. It shed some enlightening perspectives on our prison system and the effect it has on families. Before watching, I was unaware that they had stopped touch visits and were charging for calls. It made me realize how the prison system is really built against poor black families. It is meant to be a rehabilitation facility, but through its function, it deteriorates the black family.

    The daughters in the film were in various positions with their fathers. Some harbored resentment and did not want to see them, whilst others were scared their fathers would not recognize them. The film also showed the aftermath of the dance, where it was disheartening to see some of the fathers and daughters not converse since. The documentary provided a connection to a concept we talk about in African Diaspora & World about how the prison system is really a racial problem that has been criminalized. It is heavily monetized and functions to keep Black families oppressed due to the disproportionate number of Black people in prison. The prison system is structured to break people, not help them get out. In the documentary, that could be seen through some of the fathers who never spent two months out of jail. Daughters motivated me to vote for policies that fix the injustice in our prison system.

- Taylar Wharton