Wyatt Cenac talks about police budgets, protests, and getting 'Problem Areas' free on YouTube

"We need to reach out to our local officials."
By Shannon Connellan  on 
Wyatt Cenac talks about police budgets, protests, and getting 'Problem Areas' free on YouTube
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Season 1 (and now Season 2) of the HBO show Wyatt Cenac's Problem Areas is now available to watch for free on YouTube, a feat the show's creator was able to instigate via Twitter. Season 1 tackles policing in America, so it's truly the time to watch.

Cenac talked to Jimmy Fallon about how he was able to get the show onto the platform for free, amongst a larger conversation about police funding and the protests against racism and police brutality happening across America, following the killing of George Floyd, who died after three police officers pinned him down, one kneeling on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

"I think there's a conversation that's starting to happen now where people talk about how police budgets are being used, and just the idea that why as citizens, as taxpayers who pay into a police system do we not have more oversight and control over how those dollars get spent," he says.

Cenac mentions what's known as Section 50-a of the New York Civil Rights Law, which was brought in during the 1970s to prevent public access to police officers' personnel records without the permission of the officer — something that has been widely scrutinised as a harmful roadblock to building safety and trust between the community and police, especially in cases of police brutality. Here, Cenac points to the Safer New York Act, a group of bills in the New York State Legislature that "would help increase police transparency and help increase accountability to New Yorkers' most common encounters with police," including repealing Section 50-a.

"We need to reach out to our local officials, and a lot of it is doing that, it's reaching out to local officials, it's amplifying the voices," says Cenac, before reflecting on the moment at large. "What feels different now as opposed to just a couple of years ago is I feel like people are starting to look internally and say, 'OK well, as a white person what is my responsibility in this? What is my role to play in this? And where have I been complicit in allowing these things to happen?' What I feel hopeful for is that as people opt in to this movement, they continue to opt in."

A black and white image of a person with a long braid and thick framed glasses.
Shannon Connellan

Shannon Connellan is Mashable's UK Editor based in London, formerly Mashable's Australia Editor, but emotionally, she lives in the Creel House. A Tomatometer-approved critic, Shannon writes about everything (but not anything) across entertainment, tech, social good, science, and culture.


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