Black dissent in America: exploring Ava DuVernay’Selma and 13th against the background of the 2020 anti-racial discrimination protests

Abstract

The 2020 protests on police brutality and racial discrimination in the United States constitute the most recent event of black dissent in what is a history marked by injustice, humiliation, exploitation and the denial of freedom, equality and self-representation of a specific group of people. Dissent can be exercised in many ways and in different areas of society. Over the past few years, Ava DuVernay has produced filmic works that are counter-narratives to the forms of representation imposed on African-Americans by the dominant white majority. This paper analyzes two of those works, Selma (2014) and 13^th (2016), and considers their potential as instruments of dissent within the context of black resistance, at a time when racial relations are once again under scrutiny.