We Keep Us Safe

, is the latest documentary from award-winning filmmaker Shawn Batey, and features five portraits of five activists in the 2020 NYC Black Lives Matter Movement. Sparked by the death of George Floyd, protesters across the country took to the streets demanding change, seeking an end to police brutality, and the senseless taking of Black lives. It provides personal journeys of activism in the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

Each story, 5-7 minutes in length, highlights an activist, combining a mix of protest footage from photographs, videos, and interviews on the streets. Each subject represents a different age group, gender identity, profession, ethnic identity, and reason for participation in the protests: a Native American/African American bicyclist, a female Ethiopian teacher, a non-binary queer dancer, a female Trans leader, and an Afro-Dominican recent college graduate.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

is an activist and multimedia filmmaker whose work explores Black culture, history, and environment. She is an award-winning filmmaker with over 25 years experience as a Producer and Director of documentary films. Her documentary films are distributed by Third World Newsreel and Kweli TV.

Her feature length documentary, Changing Face of Harlem, shot over a decade, 2000 - 2010, examines the revitalization of Harlem through the lens of residents and small business owners. Her work has been shown nationwide at film festivals, Maysles Documentary Center, MOMA, on college campuses and more.

She is also the curator of Capture the Movement, a traveling Black Lives Matter photo exhibit, comprising 60 images from 60 Black photographers. Born from an Instagram post requesting images from Black photographers, activist and protester Shawn Batey created Capture the Movement with the purpose of spotlighting & amplifying the work of Black Photographers covering the Black Lives Matter Movement. Capture the Movement seeks to answer the question, “Who is a protester?” Her vision was to create a space to honor the Black perspective while providing an opportunity to meet the photographers during a time for the community to come together in support of a movement for change.​

Shawn’s work has been shown nationwide at film festivals, museums, Maysles Documentary Center, academic conferences, college campuses and more. Shawn is a member of IATSE Local 52 & IATSE Local 476 working as a Props Assistant on films and television shows.

is a visual journalist whose photography featured in WE KEEP US SAFE played a formative role in her decision to pursue photojournalism as a profession. Engaging with community-centered storytelling through that work led her to formalize her training at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, where she completed her M.A. in Engagement Journalism in December 2025. Born in Puerto Rico to a Garifuna immigrant and raised in New York City, Baptiste brings a bilingual and historically informed lens to her reporting. Her work has been published by Borderless Magazine and Reuters, and she is currently developing her first independent documentary project.

This free event is hosted by the Department of Africana Studies and funded by aCultural Programming grant.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Express Newark at Rutgers University-Newark, 54 Halsey Street, Newark, United States

Concerts, fests, parties, meetups - all the happenings, one place.

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