We Can’t Cop Cars Without Seeing Cop Cars is a site specific installation by artist/scholar Dr. Fahamu Pecou. The installation features a short film by the same title displayed within a modified Ford Crown Victoria Interceptor. Crown Victoria Interceptors are a popular vehicle used in police forces across the country. When decommissioned, they are repurposed and sold at auto auctions, often purchased by Black men in urban communities. The irony of the Crown Victoria being a popular car amongst Black men can’t be overstated, but the silhouette of the vehicle continues to have a visceral affect. The project explores the notion of Black leisure by highlighting spaces where Black men can experience freedom, autonomy, and joy. Few representations of Black life depict these images or even considers these as valid experiences. We Can’t Cop… uses cars as an allegorical as well as a literal suggestion of movement and escapism from the stresses and traumas of the world. From fear, to triumph, to joy and back to reality, the short film uses the aesthetics of magical realism to give viewers a momentary glimpse into the complex emotional landscape of Black male masculinity.

Written and Directed by Dr. Fahamu Pecou