'Freedia Got a Gun' Preview: New Orleans residents give first-hand account of gun violence in Peacock docu
2020 has become a year in which many unstable situations have converged to form an apocalypse-like situation. Looking back on the past nine months, our society has much to be improved upon. The pandemic, wildfires and protests against racial injustice have shown that there is a lot that needs to be done. Among them, gun violence in America stands out because of the apparent apathy from lawmakers.
The protests to punish those responsible for the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and many others are still ongoing while many continue to point out that the country needs gun laws immediately. Black American people are disproportionately impacted by gun violence. According to Everytown, They experience nearly 10 times the gun homicides, 15 times the gun assaults and three times the fatal police shootings of the White American folks. Each day on average, 26 Black Americans are killed by guns and 104 experience non-fatal injuries. At least every other day, a Black person is shot and killed by police. These trends worsen in large cities where Black American people make up 68% of homicide victims. Gun violence further clusters in specific social networks and neighborhood sub-sections.
In New Orleans, which is ranked 5th out of all parishes/counties in the United States for firearm homicides in 2019, 93 percent of all homicide victims died by gun violence. Of the 120 people who were killed in New Orleans in 2019, 99 were Black American men.
It is in this light that NBC's streaming service, Peacock's latest documentary offering comes. 'Freedia Got a Gun' follows bounce icon Big Freedia as she goes around New Orleans learning about gun violence and advocating for safety in her city. Her brother, Adam Ross, was shot dead in January 2018. His killer has still not been apprehended.
'Freedia Got a Gun' is a different documentary in that it examines the subject of gun violence through a lens not often seen — that of those who are directly affected by it. With Freedia, the viewers get to meet those at different stages of their lives affected by the gun culture and crime in their city and how they are sucked into the vicious cycle of violence and those who have striven to rise above it.
'Freedia Got a Gun' will be available to stream on Peacock on October 15.