Sind Amerikaner gewalttätiger als Europäer? Warum ist die Mordrate in den USA so hoch? Auf einem Roadtrip durch die USA spreche ich mit Mördern, Waffenfanatikern, Opfern, Schlichtern und bekam oft unbequeme Antworten: für strengere Waffengesetze ist längst zu spät. Und: Vor allem Schwarze sind Opfer der vielen Morde. Im Auftrag von ARTE.





WHO‘S AFRAID OF AMERICA:

GEWALT & GNADE

 

ZITATE AUS DEM FILM


„I know I have to be careful in what I say, but I don't mind to say it, because I'm speaking the truth, but actually I'm speaking from what I hear from the citizens on the street. … I mean the crime is so out of control, the gunfire is so out of control, but the police department at times has found itself overwhelmed with all the shooting. … Everyone can be a victim – anyone, anywhere and anytime.“

– Ron Holt. Sein Sohn wurde in einem Bus erschossen.



Is a gun worth more than somebody's life? I really don't think so. I actually work with a lot of children on a day-to-day basis, and I asked a young eight-year-old boy what he did this past weekend. His response was: I tried not to get shot.

- Eine Demonstrantin In Chicago



And in fact, if you talk to some of the guys, especially really high-risk guys that are really into the shooting and gangs and that sort of thing, they don't plan to live. And in fact it's because for a lot of them they figure it would be easier to die than to plan to live, because their options are so few. And I've seen a couple of them actually get almost like addicted to shooting and it's sickening and it's scary and it's dehumanizing. 

– Dr. Elanore Quitanne; „CeaseFire“ Chicago



Let's give you a brief update about Terror Town. Recently there has been a rise of shootings at Terror Town. We got a nine-year-old boy that was shot in the head, three women that were killed. A little boy, nine years old got shot in the head, one lady was killed right in front of the emergency room at a hospital in Terror Town, you know. And there was a major war going on, too, at their graves. It's called the fourth police district and homicides have increased in that district by 87 percent.


  1. - By 87 percent?

  2. - Yes.


– Teo Hardiman „CeaseFire“ Chicago




  1. - That was my question: How many of your friends are dead?


  1. - Ah, man... I couldn't even like give you an exact number, it would take me minutes to try to remember everyone, but I would say personal friends, people that at one point of my life were at least, say… I'm trying to say all the people I know there today. But personal friends I say I loved has got to be up into the... somewhere around thirty.


  1. - Lots of funerals.


  1. - I stopped going. I don't even attend funerals anymore. I feel like they are a waste of time. And I don't even see the point in it. The nigga that you say that you're gonna miss, he don't even know if you're there or not. So what the fuck am I there for? For who? Who am I here trying to impress or trying to... fuck all that.


– Spider Loc, Rapper aus LA

Dokumentation über die Wurzeln der Gewalt in den USA/

3. Teil der Serie „Who‘s Afraid Of America“

Who‘s Afraid Of America wurde als beste Doku-Serie für den Grimme-Preis 2009 nominiert. Das Grimme-Institut schreibt: „Hintergründige und facettenreiche Beschreibung des Zustands der amerikanischen Nation im Vorfeld der Präsidentschaftswahlen 2008. Zu sehen ist ein Land, in dem sich hinter der Faszination des liberalen "American Way of Life" krasse soziale Gegensätze verbergen.“