On These Grounds

An explosive video goes viral, showing a white school resource officer in South Carolina pull a Black teenager from her school desk and throw her across the floor. An outraged nation divides over who is at fault and what role race played in the incident. Healer-Activist Vivian Anderson uproots her life in NYC and moves to South Carolina to support the girl and dismantle the system behind the "Assault at Spring Valley,” including facing the police officer. Adding context, geographer Janae Davis treks the surrounding swamps and encounters the homes of formerly enslaved people of African descent, connecting past to present. Against the backdrop of a racial reckoning and its deep historical roots, one incident illuminates a persistent American power structure. Much like the nation at large, the arresting officer and the student have starkly different perspectives. Through intimate footage and interviews with both, a hidden truth is unearthed about what actually happened that day.