A Powerful 'Mannequin Challenge' Video Focused on Police Brutality Goes Viral
— -- As the new trend of "mannequin challenge" videos showing people frozen in different positions sweeps the internet, one that has gone viral aims to highlight issues around the Black Lives Matter movement and police brutality.
Simone Shepherd, an actor, writer and director in Los Angeles, filmed the powerful video Wednesday and posted it to social media.
The minute-long video pans to different black people frozen like mannequins in specific scenes based on real events like officer-involved shootings and the shooting of Trayvon Martin.
The scenes include: A man and woman sitting in a car as a police officer points a gun at them. A man slumped over outside a car with a cop's gun drawn on him. A man in a hoodie holding skittles. A man wearing a Colin Kaepernick jersey. A group of Black Lives Matter activists.
Shepherd told ABC News she posted the video to bring awareness to a new film, "Black and Blue," by friends of hers.
"The film is about an African-American police officer and his conflict with being African-American and on the police force in this current time," Shepherd said.
The people in the minute-long video are actors from the movie, she said.
Shepherd said the filmmakers asked her to create the mannequin challenge video and that she used her large social media following to bring attention to the project.
"I support their film and I support the whole Black Lives Matter movement, and I wanted to use my platform to help them really push and bring awareness to their film and everything that's going on," Shepherd said.
She said the timing of the video was not related to the presidential election.
"No matter who became the president, [police brutality] is still an issue that needs to be addressed," she said. "I wanted to do everything I could do bring awareness to this issue."
Shepherd said the reaction to her viral video "has been wonderful."
"People have been really touched by it. The majority of videos I make are comedic," she said. "To post something like this, I wasn't quite sure how people would see it ... Everyone has been moved and touched."
