Brandon Anderson
Essential Question
What is your impetus for social justice activism?
Themes from Truth Testimonies
Unjust Legal System
Problematic Mainstream Media
Grief/Trauma
Description
Truth Teller Brandon Anderson shares how grief resulting from the shooting of his lifelong partner ignited his activism against police violence. Brandon was originally dishonorably discharged from the military under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” when he informed his commanding officer that his life partner was murdered by police. When the discharge was later given honorable status, he became a student at Georgetown University and cultivated his activism in Ferguson, Missouri. Brandon designed a crowdsourcing app called SWAT (or Safety with Accountability and Transparency) to track police behavior. Users can document their experiences and share information with others about interactions with the police. In his testimony, Brandon shares how his life experiences, including his mother’s past abuse by law enforcement, have impacted his ability to become a social justice activist and contribute to the liberation of others.
Learning Opportunities for Community Leaders and Educators
Explain to participants that they will view Brandon Anderson’s testimony and that you will pause the video for a “stop and discuss” process at points where questions emerge. Allow for discussion, and then continue viewing his story.
Guiding Questions (Stop & Discuss)
How would you explain the way police violence is affecting the LGBTQ community?
How did Brandon’s multiple identities (a.k.a. working class, gay, and male in the military) guide and influence his interactions with the legal system and his experience of police violence? Think about “intersectionality” here (as in the way that multiple dimensions of identity/oppression constitute something new) rather than merely an additive sum of each individually.
What characteristics or attributes does Brandon carry from his personal life and his lived experiences into his social justice activism? Why do you think these qualities are important for an activist working for police accountability and racial justice?
Extensions
Critical personal reflection is a useful tool for individuals committed to racial social justice work. Make a list of 5 attributes you identify in yourself that can contribute to your activism. Write a journal entry reflecting on what you have learned from Brandon’s life that you could bring forward into your own work. Conclude by creating 3 affirmations that could support you to realize your goal.
Write a letter to your local, state, or federal representative or to the President of the United States. In your letter, describe the violence affecting the LGBTQ community. You might attempt to be vulnerable, expressing or connecting to the empathy needed to convey the hardships faced. Your letter might include:
a) an appropriate salutation,
b) a brief introduction that tells why you want to express your concerns for the police violence against the LGBTQ community, particularly those members who are also People of Color and/or working class
c) details about what you have observed or read about police violence, particularly toward the LGBTQ community (tell your representatives or the President exactly what you have seen, felt, discussed, or heard)
d) up to 3 specific actions that local, state, or federal government should take to help victims of police violence
e) a concluding expression of gratitude and your signature
Write a newspaper article or blog post for your student paper about how technology is being used at the grassroots community level to monitor and track police violence. You may wish to include references to technology and literature about interacting with police. Click here for examples .
Resources
An App That Tracks the Police to Keep Them in Check
California Now Has an App to Track Police Violence
Contributor: Samuel Sinyangwe
How kids addressed police brutality with technology
Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color
Police discrimination against U.S. LGBT community pervasive: report
Stop Pretending the ‘Ferguson Effect’ is Real
SWAT is an app that allows you to report and live-stream footage of police brutality
TED Talk: The power of vulnerability
Young Black Entrepreneur Brandon Anderson Creates App to Monitor Police Brutality