Driving While Black

Car ownership and driving has generally been considered a measure of freedom in American society as it has allowed individuals to travel anytime and anywhere they wanted. However, this "freedom" is a white construct which has largely not been afforded to the black population. This documentary discusses the oppression of the black population by the white population in the US back to the time of slavery by restricting mobility. Even with the emancipation of slaves, they were restricted in where they could go through segregation and threats of violence if those official and unofficial barriers were breached, especially in the Jim Crow south and the rise of the KKK throughout the country. As such, black people had to know beforehand where they could and could not go especially if travelling in unfamiliar territory or risk being hurt or killed. Even with the rise of the automobile age and the development of the interstate highway system in the mid-twentieth century, federal programs further oppressed the black population in those highways in built-up urban areas going through the path of least resistance, namely in what were considered black neighborhoods. And since the Civil Rights Act of the 1960s, that oppression has taken the form of racial profiling by police forces in viewing black people behind the wheel as being potential threats against public safety. This oppression over time has only slowly become within the white population mindset with the onset of the television age in the mid-twentieth century, and now with cell phone cameras and dash cameras documenting the harassment and violence against the black population solely because of the color of their skin.