Ugly history of using dogs to attack, suppress Black people told in new documentary – AL.com

Police dog bites send thousands of people to emergency rooms every year.

Studies show that in some places they have been disproportionately Black. That may not be a coincidence, history shows.

Mauled, a new short film produced by Reckon examines how dogs have been used to terrorize and control Black people and communities of color for centuries.

The documentary film is based on reporting from a year-long investigation by AL.com, The Marshall Project, USA Today, IndyStar and the Invisible Institute. The collaboration won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting.

It begins with an account from Ashley White, who was 26-years-old in 2015 when she was mauled by a police dog in Talladega. A local attorney who represented victims of police dogs in the town, said the department sought out a dog that would attack Black members of their community.

The film features Charlton Yingling, a history professor at the University of Louisville, who points to a long history in the Americas -- dating back to the 1520s -- of using dogs to enforce racial hierarchies and to extract and exploit Black labor.

Tyler D. Parry, a history professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, who co-authored a book on the subject with Yingling, said dogs became central to the penitentiary system, including to capture escaped prisoners, and suppress civil rights demonstrations and attack protesters in cities such as Birmingham.

No national database of police dog bites exists, and there is little accountability or redress available for victims. Police officers are often shielded from liability and jurors generally favor the dogs.

The Marshall Project and AL.com will continue their reporting on police dog attacks. You can share your experience with police dogs here.

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Ugly history of using dogs to attack, suppress Black people told in new documentary - AL.com