I Ain’t Resisting

In September of 2018, Marcus Deon Smith, a Black man who had committed no crime, died in the custody of the Greensboro Police Department. His death was eventually ruled a homicide.

Ian McDowell explores the narrative the City of Greensboro put forth around the death of Marcus Smith, how that narrative was challenged by citizens first, then lawyers, and how the controversy over Smith's death played out on the streets, in City Council meetings, in the press, and in the courts, for years after his death.

Often lauded as 'a bubble of blue' in a red state, Greensboro, NC was home to one of the first Civil Rights sit-ins in 1960, as well as 1979's Greensboro Massacre, in which Neo-Nazis and the KKK killed five members of the Communist Workers Party. The Marcus Smith case brought to light long standing issues involving the use of force, accountability, and the responsibility of elected officials to respond to the concerns of their community.

I Ain't Resisting demonstrates how citizens can resist the narratives that arise to justify a needless death.