The Black Cop: Redemption of black, gay police officer in Scotland Yard

London, Mar 12 (EFE).- “I joined because I wanted to be white,” Gamal ‘G’ Turawa, a retired Metropolitan Police officer says at the opening of The Black Cop, a documentary on his story of redemption.

In the roughly 20-minute documentary directed by Cherish Oteka, London Metropolitan Police’s first openly gay black officer goes over the episodes that left their mark during his 25 years of service.

The film, competing for the Bafta for best short film Sunday, helped the protagonist to make peace with his past, Oteka, a specialist in projects that give a voice to marginalized communities, told Efe.

G, who retired in 2018, reveals that his desire to feel fully integrated in the force led him to participate in humiliating situations such as time he allowed his colleagues to paint his face white to ‘fit in.’

“He has done a lot of therapy over the years (…) and he has come to peace with it,” Oteka told Efe.

“Sharing it (his story) was kind of another step of almost redemption (…) and fully accepting who he is and where he has been in the hopes that other people can do the same thing,” they added.

Oteka delves into the resistance of black communities against oppressive police tactics.

G’s story interested Oteka. During his time as a police officer, G embodied different roles from the victim to the villain and then the hero.

“Seeing where he has been and where he is now and how he has been able to turn his life around is really inspirational. It definitely provides hope,” they added.

Scotland Yard took advantage of G’s presence to include him in its advertising campaigns in a bid to project an image of inclusiveness and diversity despite the incidents of racism against him.

The documentary also includes G’s coming out and addresses how the pressure and psychological abuse he suffered pushed him to consider suicide. EFE

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