The film screening of “Queen and Slim” took place in Student Life of the Parkland College
Union on February 14; attendees were given a ticket to get a free lunch from the cafeteria and ate
while watching the movie “Queen and Slim” as part of the college’s Black History Month events.
“Queen,” played by Jodie Turner-Smith, meets Slim, played by Daniel Kaluuya, for their first
date. While Slim drives Queen home, the two are pulled over by Officer Reed, played by Sturgill
Simpson.
Officer Reed asks Slim to step out of the car and proceeds to search Slim’s car. Queen, who is a
lawyer, asks the officer why he is doing a search of the vehicle. Officer Reed gets angry at her
but still proceeds with the search. What sets the officer off is when Slim asks him to hurry up
because of the cold weather.
Officer Reed responds by drawing his weapon and pointing it at Slim. Queen gets out of the car
and is then shot by the officer, the bullet grazing her thigh. Slim takes the weapon from Officer
Reed and shoots him dead in self-defense. Queen and Slim flee the scene and are now officially
on the run.
This scene is based on a real event that took place in 1973, where a New Jersey police officer
pulled over Assata Shakur. Shakur, as well as the two others in the car were members of the
Black Liberation Army. Like the movie, the shooting started, and in the end, a police officer
named Werner Foerster died.
Queen and Slim draw many similarities to Shakur’s life, the biggest being Queen and Slim’s
decision to flee the country for Cuba, where Shakur has been a fugitive for forty years.
While Queen and Slim are on the run, people take to the streets in protest of the cops trying to
capture the two. This scene looks extremely similar to the Black Lives Matter protests that
started taking place in response to the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020. Floyd was
killed as a result of a police officer kneeling on his neck for eight minutes. Floyd’s murder and
his plea for the officer to stop, “I can’t breathe,” started a nationwide protest against police
brutality in the United States
During these protests, law enforcement controlled crowds by using tear gas and projectiles
against reportedly peaceful protesters who were exercising their First Amendment right of free
speech and protest. There were many instances of primarily peaceful protesters being dispersed
by police force. One specifically happened in La Mesa, California, where a 50-year-old woman
named Delane Hurley was hit in the cheek by a projectile shot by a police officer. Hurley had
stopped to watch the protest, which she reported as being peaceful. Then, police started to use
tear gas and projectiles when Hurley was caught in the crossfire.
“Queen and Slim” illustrates the degree of how unjust, violent, and systematically racist law
enforcement is against African Americans in this country. The message of how bad police
brutality is against African Americans is communicated strongly through the movie, as it
connects the events of the movie to examples in the real world and reminds viewers that it is not
just a movie.
There has been a long history of police brutality that continues in our country, which promises
“liberty and justice for all.”
