Justin Phillips May 1, 2021Updated: May 2, 2021, 1:08 pm
Video from the Vallejo Police Department’s body-worn camera footage of the fatal shooting of Willie McCoy in a Taco Bell drive-through is part of the season six premiere of CNN’s “United Shades of America: Policing the Police.” Photo: Vallejo Police Department
The sound bullets make when breaking through a windshield of a vehicle is hard to forget. And it’s a noise that still echoes in my ears after watching body cam footage of Vallejo police killing Sean Monterrosa and video of Vallejo police firing 55 bullets in 3.5 seconds at the car of Willie McCoy, both shown during the season six premiere of CNN’s “United Shades of America.”
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W. Kamau Bell on why it was so hard to film the Bay Area episode of CNN s United Shades of America
W. Kamau Bell
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W. Kamau Bell is the host of CNN s United Shades of America, which filmed an episode in the Bay Area to explore what defunding the police really means.CNN
People often ask me if I grew up here. Sometimes they outright assume that I did. The “city” that they “know” that I’m a “native” of changes. Could be San Francisco, Oakland or Berkeley. And even though I was born in Stanford Hospital and lived as a baby in East Palo Alto, I grew up back east. I lived in Chicago, Boston, Alabama and Indianapolis, like one does.
"United Shades of America" returns tonight with an episode on policing in America. And while that may seem like we ripped it from all the recent headlines, in reality the headlines just haven't changed that much since the show went off the air last summer.
"United Shades of America" returns tonight with an episode on policing in America. And while that may seem like we ripped it from all the recent headlines, in reality the