Welcome to Riotsville, a fictional town built by the US military. Using all archival footage, the film explores the militarization of the police and creates a counter-narrative to the nation’s reaction to the uprisings of the late ’60s.
“Riotsville, U.S.A.’s” director Sierra Pettengill (“The Rifleman”) compiles assorted archival footage from the 1960s, produced or broadcast by the US military in response to the nation’s surge of protests. The military filmed simulations to implement various aggressive tactics to stop a mob of angry citizens. Surreal imagery and calm narration give these films a meditative quality, making them almost soothing and regulating to watch.
Similar to “Who We Are,” “Riotsville, U.S.A.” also discusses the Kerner Report – a document that has become a window into how American politics reauthors reality. In 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) formed The National Advisory Commission On Civil Disorders known as the Kerner Commission named after its chairperson Governor Otto Kerner. The commission was tasked with studying the root cause of racial inequality, protests, and police aggression plaguing the country. LBJ insisted that the protests were the cause of “outside agitators”. It is outrageous that this narrative has and continues to be used, but the policy has long been to blame imaginary people over admitting that your citizens are unhappy.
Pettengill did extensive archival research and includes interviews with citizens who mostly agree that the protests need to end. But one woman had a great remark, inquiring if the commission was going to ask the protestors why they were unhappy instead of just locking them up.
Throughout the documentary, the problematic background of multiple forts used for staging simulations is explained. For instance, Fort Gordon is named after a confederate major general and member of the Ku Klux Klan. Another staging ground, oddly the renaming of the Virginia army base Fort Alexander, named for the Union General, was changed to Fort Belvoir after a slave labor camp in 1933. In 1967 the army built a model town of Fort Belvoir for police and military responding to civil disobedience- It was called “Riotsville.” Soldiers dress in civilian clothes to break into a fake appliance store and loot things – one of the only moments of levity amongst the propaganda.
At times, Pettengill makes immersive use of archival footage by moving through footage in a rotoscoping manner. There is a rollicking debate hosted on the liberal station PBL between Rev. Albert Cleage and the Fraternal Order of Police leader Harrington with the former citing intellectuals like Fanon, Baldwin, and Faulkner. PBL was an important outlet that was shut down when the Ford Foundation pulled its funding. As these publicly funded stations get taken over by corporate news there is a traceable mark where the mainstream media begins to favor law enforcement while dehumanizing protestors. This marker can be traced to the democratic national convention in Chicago where police brutalized protestors on camera and the media made the anti-war movement look naive.
The Riotsville simulations increased violent occurrences at protests. In an attempt to further dehumanize the citizens, these drills always included a sniper on a top floor firing at the officers in training. These sniper drills led officers to fire at one another and innocent civilians on multiple occasions. This is a clear example of escalation, as we’ve seen played out as a military tactic used on civilians for decades now. It is also what psychologists refer to as “reactive abuse.”
A member of the Kerner Commission stated that they could have assessed the protester’s grievances by exploring race or class disparities, but the solution would lead back to the men in the boardroom. In 1968, Congress passed the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration which has given billions in funding to police in weapons and technology. With the security state constantly expanding, we are left with some questions: Where does it end? What is the end goal?
“Riotsville, U.S.A.” recently premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival
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