The Tale of Amazon and Two black Documentaries
What Killed Michael Brown? & Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America
By June 2020, there were protests and riots nationwide over the police killings of Black Americans like Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. Amazon, the biggest retailer in the world, placed a “Black Lives Matter” banner at the top of its website to “stand in solidarity with the Black community”.
Amazon received complaints, customers felt that the “Black Lives Matter” banner was divisive and were offended.
Amazon’s founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos, dismissed the complaints. Bezos said the phrase “Black Lives Matter” doesn’t mean other lives don’t matter, it speaks to racism and the disproportional risk black people face when encountering law enforcement.
Amazon stood its ground and remained in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, but not with the entire Black community.
Months later, Amazon Prime Video refused to stream a documentary called What Killed Michael Brown? because the title didn’t meet content quality expectations and the film was not eligible for publishing. Amazon Prime also told the film’s creators, “We will not be accepting resubmission of this title, and this decision may not be appealed.”