Kimora Wong Sing, MSU Spokesman
Morgan State University investigative journalism professor Alissa Figueroa will host two screenings of her documentary, “Breaking the Blue Wall,” on Thursday, March 12.
The first screening will take place at 11 a.m. in the University Student Center Theater. A second screening will be held at 7 p.m. in the Murphy Fine Arts Center Recital Hall.
Both screenings will be followed by a question-and-answer panel featuring Figueroa, Baltimore activist Tawanda Jones, Maryland state lawmaker Jill Carter and other police reform advocates.
Figueroa shared the event details in an email to The Spokesman.
Figueroa is a Baltimore-based journalist and filmmaker who teaches journalism and communications at Morgan. Her documentary “Prison Kids,” produced for Fusion, earned a News and Documentary Emmy nomination, and her film “Rigged” received the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award. She began her journalism career at NBC News.
Figueroa began working on “Breaking the Blue Wall” in the summer of 2020 after examining what happens after large-scale protests calling for police reform.
“I was interested in the question: what happens after an uprising, like we were seeing in Minneapolis after the killing of George Floyd,” said Figueroa.
The documentary examines Maryland’s Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights, known as LEOBR. The law, passed in 1974, created specific protections for police officers during misconduct investigations.
The film also follows yearslong efforts to repeal the law, including a legislative push in 2021. It focuses on the work of Carter and Jones as they push for policy changes.
Figueroa said the documentary took five years to complete while she balanced the project with a full-time job.
“This was my first independent film,” said Figueroa. “I had to raise all the funds, find support, hire everyone and find distribution.”
“Breaking the Blue Wall” premiered at the Maryland Film Festival and will air on Maryland Public Television and stream on the PBS app and website in May.
The film will also screen at the University of Michigan and at Morgan’s Lillie Carroll Jackson Civil Rights Museum in April. Additional screenings are scheduled at Wide Angle Youth Media’s studios in Baltimore in May and at the Enoch Pratt Free Library’s Central Library in June.
The screenings are open to students and members of the Morgan community. Attendees will have the opportunity to watch the film and participate in the discussion after each showing.