At the height of 2020’s Black Lives Matter protests, a young mother fights for her innocence after surviving a near death car accident while mistakenly injuring a police officer.
synopsis
After driving back to her house following a devastating funeral, Deyanna Davis mistakenly drove through a protest in the streets of Buffalo, New York. Confused and injured by police fire, the mother of five soon realized the accident also impacted an officer and was placed under arrest at the hospital. At that same protest was Myles, a single father and organizer who was assaulted by the police, witnessed the events and began advocating for Deyanna’s innocence. Tied together by the same traumatic night and bonded in parenthood, Thank You for Thinking of Me follows Deyanna as she faces imprisonment, Myles as he battles organizing as a Black Muslim man, and a legal justice system that values police lives over citizens.
“This story taught me that the true measure of justice is not merely absolving the innocent and holding the guilty to account. It is the courage to open our hearts to areas of gray, and consider the full humanity of the accused before issuing a judgment.”
— الشبلي Akram محمد, Director
director’s statement
"When my parents moved to Buffalo, NY, they sought refuge from the oppressive state violence of the Assad regime in Syria. To them, America represented liberation-a promise of a state designed to protect the rights of its citizens rather than suppress them.
We found community here, practiced our religion, and came to the sobering realization that even in America, freedom has its limitations.
I myself have been a direct victim of police brutality at the U.S. -Canada border, targeted by harmful assumptions about my ethnicity and faith.
My personal connection to these issues and my community is the foundation of this film.
For years, I documented life at my mosque. People grew accustomed to seeing me with a camera; it became a part of my being. This trust allowed me to document the lives of my neighbors organically, capturing unscripted moments of passion, humor, and dedication.
That trust extended to my friendship with Myles Carter, who collaborated with me on initiatives to brighten Buffalo's East Side. Together with his voice and my filmmaking we successfully raised a new playground for the children in our community. In June 2020, Myles was assaulted on live television during a non-violent protest. As police sought to discredit him as an agitator, I felt duty-bound to tell his story.
However, in the weeks of advocacy that followed, Myles seldom thought of himself. He was thinking of Deyanna Davis.
Deyanna was incarcerated in the Erie County Holding Center for nearly 40 days that summer. She was aware of our efforts to advocate for her release, but she did not know us and we did not know her. Knowing someone is not a pre-requisite for caring, and as I documented this quest for justice, I witnessed like never before the power of empathy to mobilize a community.
Incarceration has touched every generation of Deyanna's family. Her efforts to break the cycle-starting a business, pursuing a Master's degree, closely raising her children—were no match to institutional barriers and the weight of inherited trauma.
At first, Deyanna was reluctant to open up. Caught in a legal nightmare, made notorious by the news media, and the subject of polarizing and often vicious discourse online, her caution was understandable. As her trial date neared, however, she felt a calling to tell her story and invited me into her home.
In the days leading up to the trial's inevitable conclusion, Deyanna became increasingly vulnerable. Her candid disclosure reveals hidden truths about the interconnected nature of domestic and state violence. As time wore on, we abandoned the staged relationship between filmmaker and participant and formed a friendship. Our conversations went beyond her ordeal to challenges with her family, love, and her relationship with God.
Between the humor, the hardship, and her children growing and changing throughout the years, this story personalizes the necessary discourse around racial injustice in the wake of 2020's global uprising for Black lives.
This story taught me that the true measure of justice is not merely absolving the innocent and holding the guilty to account. It is the courage to open our hearts to areas of gray, and consider the full humanity of the accused before issuing a judgment.
With the backing of over 1,000 donors worldwide, this film was made possible by a collective resolve for change.
Thank you for thinking of us."