For the past eight months, senior Emani Labon has been devoting her time to creating her very own documentary, “Thugs; The Criminalization of Black Youth.” Labon’s documentary contains two main parts: the criminalization and mass incarceration of black youth and sharing the story of Myon Burrell, who was falsely accused of murder and spent 18 years in prison for it.

Labon, a Minneapolis native, has been a frontline activist herself since the murder of George Floyd shook Minneapolis and black communities to their core in May 2020. This brutality combined with the goal of wanting to become a lawyer for juveniles in the future, and experience with script writing in the past is ultimately what led Labon to create her documentary. “So what inspired me was seeing other black filmmakers in the industry make documentaries and it just moved me. Especially now I feel like it’s better to show stuff, showing somebody’s story; being able to storytell is way more inspiring and impactful and I’d rather do that and make a difference,” Labon said.

Labon has been working alongside a production team to bring her documentary to life since July 2021. She is assisted by co-director Taylor Redmond and SPNN, a St. Paul production company who provides her with camera equipment and a filming space, a mentor to help guide her through the filmmaking process, and finally an editor who helps tie it all together. As a whole, Labon and the production team are working together to help share the documentary’s message.

“I want to spread the message of just how mass incarceration affects the black community and how we as a community, as a society need to stop perceiving young black people as criminals, as thugs, taking the innocence away from black children. It’s something that happens and it’s something that leads to, you know, police brutality, and it’s just the stem of racism in general,” Labon said.

A big portion of the documentary is interview based, where Labon shares the perspectives of many different people from diverse backgrounds; however, they all share the common belief in promoting Labon’s message. Labon’s documentary will showcase interviews with lawyers, educators, and activists, and the interviews will focus on talking about historical issues such as the police during slavery, Jim Crow laws, the school to prison pipeline, poverty, and gang violence. “I find activists through the frontlines since I am a frontline activist myself. I did this thing over the summer helping black students who needed help graduating at Edison High School and I met so many amazing educators, and then also teachers here [BSM]. I had Ms. Olson and Mr. Draughn. And then lawyers, I have a mentor who’s a lawyer; her name is Rachel and she connects me with different types of lawyers, and also there are some activists who are also lawyers too, so I get those connections through just networking,” Labon said.

Without a doubt, creating a film during the ongoing pandemic has presented a number of setbacks. Some interviews have had to be conducted via Zoom, which makes the production a bit tougher down the road. More than technical difficulties, Labon has found it hard to gain respect as an African American female filmmaker. “Just being an African American female filmmaker, it’s very hard, especially being in high school. Not too many people take it seriously, and a lot of people were doubting me and not being very nice about it. I have to prove people wrong and I shouldn’t have to do that because you should, off the bat, be taking it seriously,” Labon said.

Despite barriers, Labon has thoroughly enjoyed the creation process and the connections that have been forged along the way. “My favorite part is just meeting new people and getting great insight from interviews. I have learned so much from people and being able to work with my co-director Taylor. She’s amazing. Being able to do the narration on my own has been amazing. Just being around the community, knowing that this documentary will hopefully make a huge impact,” Labon said.

The documentary is set to release on June 25, 2022 after an extensive 11-month creation process. “The dream is Netflix, but the platform it will be released on is in theaters, I’ll rent out AMC. And if it’s not on a streaming platform, it’ll probably just be released on YouTube,” Labon said.

This story was originally published on Knight Errant on March 18, 2022.