Synopsis: A powerful documentary sheds light on the 2019 killing of an unarmed teenager, sparking a conversation about police accountability and community action in the face of systemic silence. Description: Laura Flanders sits down with the directors of CYCLE, a newly-released investigative feature documentary that focuses on the 2019 killing of Ty’rese West, an 18-year-old Black teenager from Racine, Wisconsin who was shot to death after being pulled over by a Mount Pleasant police officer for riding a bicycle with no headlights. Guests: • William Howell: Co-Director, CYCLE • Laura Dyan Kezman: Director, Editor & Producer, CYCLE Full Conversation Release: While our weekly shows are edited to time for broadcast on Public TV and community radio, we offer to our members and podcast subscribers the full uncut conversation. These audio exclusives are made possible thanks to our member supporters. Become a member today, go to https://Patreon.com/LauraFlandersandFriends. Watch the special report on YouTube; PBS World Channel November 9th, and on over 300 public stations across the country. Listen: Episode airing on community radio November 12th & available as a podcast.
Synopsis: The directors of CYCLE invite viewers to confront the eerie stillness that follows many cases of police brutality, where no footage, public pressure, or accountability exist, and instead, inspire collective change.
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Description: Would we know from our media that over 1,000 people are killed by police every year in the U.S.? The stories of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor are exceptions, but for the victims we don’t hear about, there’s CYCLE. The newly-released investigative feature documentary from LionArt Media focuses on the 2019 killing of Ty’rese West, an 18-year-old Black teenager from Racine, Wisconsin who was shot to death after being pulled over by a Mount Pleasant police officer for riding a bicycle with no headlights. No videos were taken, the details of West’s death were withheld from the community and the subsequent police report. Made in close collaboration with West’s mother, Monique West, the film follows the story of Ty’rese’s death and the lawsuit that ensued. CYCLE is an invitation, “. . . to interrupt the silence that follows so many cases that never go viral — cases where there’s no footage, no public pressure, and no accountability,” say director Laura Dyan Kezman and co-director William Howell, both Racine natives. Kezman is an award-winning director, DP, and editor, and the founder of LionArt Media committed to telling bold, socially driven stories that examine justice, culture, and civic engagement. Howell is a cinematographer, editor, and director based in Milwaukee. He was the cinematographer of ‘The Rise and Fall of Coo Coo Cal’ and the director of the 2020 film ‘You Don’t Know Me’. Join the CYCLE directors and Laura Flanders for this powerful conversation on police accountability and community action, plus a commentary on the media quiet about Trump’s massive military build-up in the Caribbean.
“. . . We started this film in 2019 with the intention of not making an angry film, but we didn't quite know what the film needed to be yet. Then COVID hit, Ahmaud Arbery was killed, and then Breonna Taylor was killed, and then George Floyd was killed . . . We felt it then, that this was something so much bigger than us in terms of us telling Tyrese's story in that moment.” - Laura Dyan Kezman
“The call to action, that's when I see, more than anything, that we achieved our goal. People are not leaving these theaters angry . . . They're leaving and saying, what can we do? What can I do? What can we do together as people to help create this change?” - William Howell
Guests:
• William Howell: Co-Director, CYCLE
• Laura Dyan Kezman: Director, Editor & Producer, CYCLE
Full Conversation Release: While our weekly shows are edited to time for broadcast on Public TV and community radio, we offer to our members and podcast subscribers the full uncut conversation. These audio exclusives are made possible thanks to our member supporters.
Watch the special report on YouTube; PBS World Channel November 9th, and on over 300 public stations across the country (check your listings, or search here via zipcode). Listen: Episode airing on community radio November 12th (check here to see if your station is airing the show) & available as a podcast.
RESOURCES:
Related Laura Flanders Show Episodes:
• Police Violence Against Latinos: The Shocking Data We Now Know: Watch / Listen: Episode
• Jacqueline Woodson & Catherine Gund: Breathing Through Chaos & the “Meanwhile”: Watch / Listen: Episode and Full Uncut Conversation
• The Defund Movement in 2024: Frontline Reporters Separate Myth from Reality: Watch / Listen: Episode
Related Articles and Resources:
• ‘CYCLE’ comes home: Racine premiere unites community in a call for action, by Heather Asiyanbi and Grant Ritchey, July 21st, 2025, Racine County Eye
• Mapping Police Violence: “Law enforcement agencies across the country are failing to provide us with even basic information about the lives they take. So we collect the data ourselves…”
• The U.S. Dept. of Justice’s Civil Rights Division Dismisses Biden-Era Police Investigations and Proposed Police consent Decrees in Louisville and Minneapolis, May 21, 2025, Justice.gov
• Wisconsin DOJ reversed decision to release cop names after pushback from police groups, by Annie Pulley, April 2025, The Badger Project
• Trump administration drops police oversight spurred by Floyd, Taylor Killings, by Sarah N. Lynch and Andrew Goudsward, May 21, 2025, Reuters
• Trump signs orders targeting sanctuary cities, seeking military involvement in law enforcement, April 28, 2025, by Alex Galbraith, Salon.com
• MAIT: How Wisconsin’s investigations into police shootings protect officers, by Isiah Holmes, February 12, 2025, Wisconsin Examiner
Full Episode Notes are located HERE.
Music Credit: 'Thrum of Soil' by Bluedot Sessions, and original sound design by Jeannie Hopper
Support Laura Flanders and Friends by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/c/lauraflandersandfriends
Chapters:
00:00:00
Personal Connections Fuel the Creation of "Cycle"
00:04:15
Exposing Systemic Power: Police and DA's Narrative Control
00:08:14
Nancy Kowalchek's Warning: A Precedent of Police Violence
00:13:28
"Cycle" as a Guide for Community Change
00:19:42
Monique's Trust and the Film's Evolving Vision
00:24:35
"Cycle" Inspires Action and Brings Healing to Victims
00:33:38
The Enduring Legacy and Transformative Power of "Cycle"
00:41:51
123 While our weekly shows are edited to time for broadcast on Public TV and community radio, we offered to our members and podcast subscribers the full, uncut conversation.
These audio exclusives are made possible thanks to our member supporters.
It's a theme we return to repeatedly on this program.
Which lives and which deaths matter, and how does the way we ask and answer that question affect us individually and as a society?
On June 15th 2019 in Racine, WI, 18 year old Tyrese W was shot to death after being pulled over by a police officer from a nearby area, ostensibly for riding a bicycle with no headlights.
The African American teen died on the same day that his community celebrated Juneteenth, the holiday marking the end of slavery, and perhaps for that very reason, details of his killing were initially withheld from his family and the public and cut from the police report.
But West's life and the circumstances of his death did matter, among others, to Racine natives Laura Diane Kesman and William Howell.
A year before the police murder of George Floyd focused national attention on systemic police violence, they undertook a multi year investigation to find out what actually happened to West and to cover the lawsuit that followed his killing.
The result is Cycle, a mesmerizing documentary which the directors describe as an invitation to, quote, interrupt the silence that follows so many cases that never go viral.
Cases where there is no footage, no public pressure and no accountability.
Check out the trailer, which is getting its broadcast premiere right here for Cycle.
I'm going to do a documentary about my son that was killed.
The foundations of our society are.
Deeply racist.
The foundations of.
Much of our criminal.
Justice system.
It's deeply racist, The foundations of our.
Policing system because it reflects that society because it reflects.
That criminal justice system is also deeply racist.
Philando, Mike.
Brown, Sandra.
This has.
Been happening to my family.
This continues unabated.
We're more aware of it and we're talking about it, but it doesn't change.
These things that have happened.
Have always happened.
It's just you don't see it.
It's not captured on video.
One seems like 1000, most of which people will never know the names of.
Your living through the nightmare of murder, of really coming face to face with a system that is not only built to destroy you, it destroys you with ease.
We've seen the systemic slaying of our people by police for.
How long?
But to have it happen in our backyard and on Juneteenth today.
You just wonder why this?
Case has not been heard by the world.
One thing I was always afraid of.
What would I do if?
I ever got.
That knock at the door?
And I got it.
There just isn't any of that evidence to say one way or the other what.
Actually transpired in June and 2019.
Really pivotal.
Questions were not being answered.
We're seeing police are leading that investigation.
They say it started because an 18 year old did not have a light on his bicycle.
You can't explain how he got pulled over on the back and shot twice in the head.
First thought of my head.
Was Emmett Teal?
I want them to.
See what he did to.
My son look at.
The pain in the face of the black women out here, they know it could be their son.
Lady holding the scale as on a blind floor so she sees you way before you see any kind of justice.
It seems like this is a never ending cycle.
With me now is director Laura Diane Kesman and Co director William Howell.
Kesman's an award-winning director and video journalist, A contributor to The Washington Post, among others, and the founder of Lion Art Media.
Howell is a cinematographer, editor, and director based in Milwaukee.
He was the cinematographer of The Rise and Fall of Cuckoo Cow and the director of the 2020 film You Don't Know Me.
Welcome both to Laura Flanders and friends and thank you for your truly powerful and important work.
I have to start with you Laura, and ask you, you know, what brought this story of Tyrese W to your attention, Why focus here and just how long you have been working on this film?
Well, as we sit here in the fall of 2025, cycle has been a six year journey for both Will and I that started tragically the night of June 15th in 2019 and I'm originally from Racine where the story takes place.
As is Will.
I was brought the story was brought to my attention through a friend who then became a producer on the film, who told me the details of what had happened that fateful night where her and I happened to be in Racine that night, driving past the crime scene, not knowing what had happened.
And it was months later because I I live in Milwaukee, WI, which is only 30 minutes north of Racine, and the news of Tyrese hadn't even reached Milwaukee and so his name wasn't even familiar to me three months after the fact.
And it was my friend and later producer Amanda who made the connection between Will and I because she was friends with Will on Facebook.
And it was once we connected and had this very long introductory conversation at a coffee shop that we talked about what had happened.
And at that point, Will had been covering the story solo, just with his camera in Racine and documenting the devastation to the community at that time.
And so he had been already working on it three months prior to him and I even meeting.
So let me come to you, William.
I mean, when did this story begin for you?
When did your relationship perhaps with Tyrese begin?
I mean, for me, it was immediately, the minute that this, this story came down my timeline, I mean, it was like an instant heartbreak for me because Tyrese's father and I, we were like very close friends when we, when we were around that age, You know, I'm in middle school.
And so as soon as I seen Tyrese's picture and, and what people need to understand is that even though Juneteenth Day is a national holiday now and it's celebrated on the 19th in Racing Wisconsin, it was always celebrated on June 15th.
And so this incident took place on that very day.
And so for for all of us, it was just very touching and very tragic.
And so for me, like I said, it was just an immediate call to action.
And why cycle?
What's the cycle of the title William?
Well, cycle came because of course, Tyrese, he was originally being stopped because he was on a, on a bicycle without a, without a light.
And we, we also wanted to, to look at the bigger picture, this cycle of police brutality on African Americans in America, that just continues to happen.
And so to take a smaller story like Tyrese's, because nobody really knows his name, nobody really knows Racine even exists.
And to be able to tie him into the bigger picture was was very vital for us.
Well, you did it brilliantly, and you reveal a lot.
Among other things, you reveal who has power in these situations and the relationship between the police and the DA, as as articulated in this clip.
Here's not a clip from Cycle.
Most people think that judges are the most powerful actors.
In the criminal justice system.
They're not.
The most powerful actors in the criminal justice system are the police and the District Attorney.
The police.
Craft the narrative that.
Goes to.
The district attorney's office, they are the fact gatherers.
When there's a law enforcement.
Involved shooting the officer that is involved.
With the police shooting, their department is not the department that actually does the investigation, but there really isn't any standard.
Protocol you good.
Ross, responding, shut down northbound 13.
They have the.
Discretion to include things in the report or not include things in the report.
It was a clip from the film Cycle, the feature documentary.
That gets to the question of narrative.
I mean, the core of this story, Laura, is that the narrative took so long to emerge and was so clearly defined by the police version.
Can you layout how you came to dig into the facts to figure out what actually happened and how what you discovered did or didn't conform with what the police was saying?
Absolutely.
Well, first and foremost there was the community and the family was met with silence from officials in Racine.
After this happened.
There was not even a press conference held to address the community or to even acknowledge Tyrese's death.
And that is very critical as we also refer back to the 16 hours that it took the Police Department to even notify Monique W that her son Tyrese was killed.
It took 16 hours until after the Juneteenth celebration had commenced that she even knew that her son was gone.
So that sort of set the precedent for what we would then come to expect in terms of transparency and the the bead with which they took this investigation, which was very, very slow.
It took 96 days for the District Attorney in Racine to announce her charging decision.
And when that day happened, it was covered quite a bit locally in Racine and there were hundreds of people in the community waiting on the courthouse steps for that announcement.
And the District Attorney didn't even address the community that was below her at the steps of the courthouse.
And so again, when the District Attorney announced that she would not be pressing charges against the officer, which I think you know, deep down most people expected that.
But it was really what what came later, which was the West family filed a civil suit just two months after the decision to not charge the officer happened.
And so it was at that point that I came on the project that we started doing interviews with both the family and the community, and I started having conversations with the prosecutors in the civil case that the West family had retained.
And it was through that relationship that I was able to expedite some of the open records requests that we had submitted to both the village of Mount Pleasant and the city of Racine and to quickly draw that distinction.
The village of Mount Pleasant is a very small village that kind of fits within the city parameters of Racine and the offending officer, the officer who killed Tyrese was a Mount Pleasant officer, and the Racine Police Department was the one leading that investigation.
And so we have been filing open records requests with both Mount Pleasant and Racine, both of which were going unanswered.
And so it was years, it was, you know, we teamed up with the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism that helped sort of guide the early stage of our investigation and and it and it was only then that we started, you know, receiving access to documents that previously had not been made public.
And would it be fair to say that there's a racial and class difference between Mount Pleasant and Racine?
Yes, it would be accurate and fair to say that yes.
William with with Racine being blacker and poorer probably, and Mount Pleasant being more suburban and, and, and by the look of it, more, more white.
William coming to you.
I mean, clearly the problem of police violence and racism in this country was not a discovery for you and your community.
But what did you learn in the course of investigating this particular case and and studying this story this closely?
Well, for me, I think that the, the, the numbers, like when you, when you're looking at Wisconsin, we have the number one and #2 cities in America, worst places for African Americans.
But if you grow up in Racine, you don't actually feel that way.
Racine is, is very integrated and, and just, we all grow up together, a lot of different nationalities and things like that.
And so when we grew up, we, we never saw the police as a threat, which was to me, I think was rather shocking.
So when so when this happened to Tyrese, I think I was more shocked than anything.
I'm not shocked at what kind of happens with the police and, and the things that go on.
But there was always a relationship there in a small town like Racine.
And so that's why I think Laura really likes to draw the conclusions between Mount Pleasant and Racine, even though we're like this Mac, you know, stuck with each other, those police officers, they don't know the kids in the community as much.
And so I think the the biggest shock to me was just more of the probably like the political side of of the officers and the relationships that have to take place when when something like this happens.
And then you have those relationships that kind of muddy the waters.
Now, it should be reminded, people should remember this.
You're talking about 2019 is when this killing happened, on the night that your town was celebrating the Juneteenth holiday, the killing of George Floyd's the next year.
And when we're talking cycles, I think many of us thought that if ever there was going to be a moment where the cycle of the relationship between the police and people of color in this country could be changed, it could be in the wake of that killing, where we learn a lot about the history and the current ubiquity of the violence and the numbers that you're talking about, Tyrese.
And we also learned about the reality that officers like Derek Chauvin in the George Floyd case have often histories of violence that they're trailing into their current position.
It was the same in the situation that you reported on Laura, and there's another mother in addition to Monique who appears in your film very powerfully.
That's Nancy Kowalchek.
Can you talk about her and her experience, why you felt it was so important to include?
Her, Absolutely.
So the parallel between Nancy Kowalchek and Monique W was not an obvious one that was reported on and nor was it a part of the conversation that people were having locally about the the situation and.
And Monique, of course, is Tyrese.
Yeah.
Monique W is Tyrese's mother and Nancy Kowalczyk is the mother of Michael Kowalczyk, who was brutally beaten by the same officer six years prior to this officer, Eric Easy, killing Tyrese.
And on Labor Day 2013, Eric Easy stopped Nancy Kowalczyk's son Michael in Mount Pleasant in front of his home.
He pulled him over in front of his home and as soon as he pulled him over, which was for suspected drunk driving, he and there the dash Cam footage shows this.
He was ripped out of his car and and brutally beaten in front of his parents who then ran out and had to witness their son being smashed to the ground, tased multiple times and and then handcuffed and taken away.
And what ended up happening is Michael now still to this day, has a traumatic brain injury that has severely impacted his ability to live independently.
The cognitive impairment that is still a very big and tragic factor in his life has changed all like that whole family dynamic has changed irrevocably.
And.
And in the meantime, Nancy Kowalczyk had approached the both the Mount Pleasant and the Racine police chiefs, warning them about Eric Easy specifically because one thing that is highlighted in the film is how nearly impossible it is to request an officer's disciplinary record.
And so in the absence of that being public information, Nancy took it upon herself to warn the community essentially about this officer who they had witnessed again, like brutally beat their son in front of them with no remorse.
And then, you know, and then all of the ensuing charges that happened after that.
But essentially, she was saying this officer is going to kill someone someday.
Please take him off either.
Like at least remove him from having a public facing position and.
And this was one of the the the issues that was addressed in that period after the killing of George Floyd.
It was one of the reforms that people nationally thought had been put in place.
That was a national database for the first time ever tracking the police behaviour and and and accountability.
What has happened to that database, as far as you know, William, and what were the changes in Wisconsin, if any, in that period of reform?
Well, I don't actually know too much about the national database, but I know that even if I was the person in charge of the national database, that if I'm not being given the proper information and there's, there's really nothing I can do.
And when you're talking about small towns like Racine, WI.
Then you're, you're, you're going to be totally out of the loop because they don't, they're not going to feel the need to answer it to anybody.
That's that's not right there, that's over them.
And so like I said, you're dealing with a lot of small town politics when you're talking about something of that large of a dynamic.
And like, you know, so who's in charge and who's the person that's, that's going to come down and to enforce these things.
And they're pretty sure that though that's, that's never going to happen.
And so, you know, we're, we're stuck with, with no answers pretty much.
So even though there were some reforms coming out of that period, it didn't trickle down.
A, as I understand it, Wisconsin was not one of the states that approved public access to any of those records.
And B, if your Police Department isn't checking people's records, even if that record exists somewhere, as you point out, who's going to do anything?
What has happened to that database?
Let me just tell you, is Donald Trump shuttered the whole thing.
So as of this year, it doesn't exist anymore.
And one of the reforms that people may think happened in that period is no more.
What do you call for?
What do you feel like the community is calling for now, William?
And then we'll get to, you know, how do you create the kind of public passion and caring that would even foment such a demand?
Well, for me, the community, that's why cycle is so important, because for change, the community has a psychological advantage on how to even approach a situation like this.
Any time that these situations happen, like we're left with just our pain and our anger.
We don't know what to do.
For as long as we've been living, we've been taught that the police have this power to do what they want and that there's nothing that we can do.
And then a lot of these people that you're talking about, they're felons or, or they've, they've broken the law before.
And so they feel the need to hide away from these injustices.
And so a lot of times, like I said, there's no answers.
And so for me, that's why I cycle.
It's so vital.
And, and what Laura was able to do with this film and not just telling Tyrese's story, but telling the story of black America within the confines of his story because she's able to tell the story of Monique W, the story of the West children, the story of William.
And these are the things that we never see when when we hear these names, even when the name becomes famous.
George Floyd.
I still don't know George Floyd's family.
I still don't know what George Floyd's mother looked like, even though he called out for his mother.
Psycho invites you into an entire life of an entire city and everybody, and you're able to like, really feel that pain.
And so for me, I think it becomes a guide for people to really actually be able to focus on them and say like, this is what we need to do in these situations.
Because before cycle, we've never had that.
And it was the same reason why I told Laura when we connected that I would not make this film because it would just be an angry film and I would be leaving our people with the exact same sentiments that we've always had.
And that doesn't cause change.
And so, yes, cycle took six years to make, but I would rather it takes six years and lasts for 60 than to just have a a, you know, a microwavable piece of work that has already been eaten and consumed and nobody cares about.
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Now, back to our full Unka conversation.
I mean, one of the reasons I feel this film is so important in this moment is that we are in a period of accelerated extreme cruelty that we're being asked to tolerate.
Not that we haven't been in moments like this before, some of us, some communities more than others.
But right now it seems like we're being asked as a society to tolerate a level of cruelty that is new to many of us.
And the only way that happens is if people don't care.
If people accept not to care in the human way, they they might just automatically.
So coming to Laura, how did you persuade William this film would be different?
What role did Monique's mom, a Monique Tyrese's mom, play in making the film the way that it is?
And I guess that's the question, as a filmmaker, how do you use narrative to create caring?
Oh, William.
Oh yeah?
Well, I I was the one that persuaded her.
Like I don't want.
I thought you said you didn't want to make the film because it would be angry.
Yeah, but I don't want that part of the story to kind of get muddy.
But yes, it was a mutual friend that that reached out to me and told me about Laura.
And I think that was just more out of respect as well, because she she doesn't, she didn't know if if if I would want to work with somebody.
I was online and I was, I would often like I was prayed more to myself, but I prayed a lot that God would send me somebody who could teach me filmmaking and I would go online a lot and I would ask people like, Hey, would y'all like to see this as a film and, and things like that.
And so yes, publicly I was searching somebody out.
And so when, when we had this mutual friend that kind of just connect us and then she, she sent me a a link to watch that was Laura's documentary.
And when I saw this work, when I tell you, I knew this was God speaking to me.
And so when me and Laura was able to connect and sit in this coffee shop, which I even had to wait it, it it was for her schedule was so busy.
I think it was maybe like almost a month before I was able to actually meet with her.
And so like I had it all together.
I was like, I'm not leaving this table without her her full commitment to this as as my lead director.
Well, but how then for it not to be an angry film?
Because you started by saying you didn't want to make the film because you thought it would just be an angry product that would leave people feeling the same way they always feel.
So what changed?
Well, for me, it was like all of a sudden I was looking at this, at this white woman, and no matter how much I prayed, I never prayed to God to send me a black man, a black woman.
I probably wouldn't care if she was blue, but it was so shocking to me and just so out, you know, it, it's just wasn't a normal thing.
And I will often tell her that like, this just doesn't feel real to me because finally it was like somebody who got it because that was kind of my call to action.
You know, even when I was online a lot, I was saying like, we need good white people.
Like this doesn't work with just us caring.
Like we need good white people who care, who can see from a standpoint of they're not blocked by their anger and their resentment and all of these things that have already taken place.
And so even when you have black men who are educated and they are healed per SE or whatever, feel like even you find yourself you only have a limit of so much that you can take before it.
It.
It just, it takes you to a place of just anger.
And so for Laura to be able to step in and constantly see things from just a bigger perspective, a bigger viewpoint, which is what you need sometimes.
But to still culturally care, to culturally connect with you and never leave your pain on the table as if it didn't matter.
That was the just the most important thing.
And so to be able to to connect with her and to be able to learn filmmaking, but not only that, like I learned life, she she, she taught me how to let go of this anger and that.
So, so well, I'm sorry to cut you off right there.
I didn't mean to.
But Laura, Laura coming to you, we want to know how, again, going back to this question of how, what was your strategy for creating a film that isn't just about anger and loss, but something else that makes people care?
And what role did Monique play in that?
Was she willing to participate from the?
Game.
Yes.
No, she was.
Monique was so, I mean, the first time I met Monique, she greeted me with a big hug, as did the entire family.
And that relationship would not have been built without the foundation that Will already had made.
Not just because he knew Monique his whole life and grew up with Tyrese's father and, you know, had this familial relationship with the family already.
But it was the trust that they had in Will that extended to the trust that they then showed me because Will, I mean, vouched for me.
And so it wasn't anything that I had to like, ask for or like build meticulously over time.
I mean, it was very natural in in the open arms that were waiting for me the second I walked in their front door.
And six years later now, I mean, I was just at the baby shower for Monique's oldest daughter and, and they are very much family.
And that bond that was performed over these years was, was very real and very, you know, the creation of this film was very much in tandem with them the entire time.
And them allowing me, especially through the production process, to sort of like come over with my camera and disappear like behind a curtain in their living room and just observe like as things were just playing out in front of me.
And, and, and me being able to have that access and that trust was something that was so I couldn't have done the film in the same way without that.
And, and then to your question of like, how do you, how do you make the film something that isn't angry, that isn't the intuitive emotional response that so much of us have when in response to when someone is atrociously killed by police and it's documented and you hear about it and it it becomes, you know, an easier convenient bandwagon to to jump on, especially in the social media atmosphere.
But when, when Tyrese was killed, there wasn't any of that because there wasn't video and there wasn't audio and he didn't become a hashtag that went viral.
And, and he represents all of the names and all of the victims of police violence that never get a platform.
And so you brought up George Floyd earlier, you know, we started this film in 2019 and you know, it it it started with the intention of like, yes, not making an angry film, but it was we didn't quite know what the film needed to be yet.
And then COVID hit and then Ahmad Arberry was killed and then Brianna Taylor was killed and then George Floyd was killed.
And so it's like this quick succession of tragedy in the, you know, happening under the microscope of the pressure Kirker of time that was COVID.
And in this, you know, kind of perfect storm of events that created the the swell in the uprising that eventually happened in the summer of 2020 was such a unique moment in time.
But particularly, you know, in the days following George Floyd being killed.
Will and I hopped into my Honda Civic and drove to Minneapolis from Milwaukee.
And we're there on the ground feeling the vibrations beneath us of what was happening in that immediate aftermath after George Floyd.
And we felt it then that this was something so much bigger than us in terms of US telling Tyrese's story in that moment.
We knew that it was something that was going to evolve into something far beyond our comprehension at that time.
And so in terms of how the film like eventually became constructed into essentially this, you know, this piece of, you know, love that it became that came, I mean, in the 3 1/2 years of me editing, it was, was was listening and finding that nuance.
I mean, we shouldn't.
I don't want to suggest that anger is misplaced.
As of right now, I think we're looking at national numbers of something like 1350 or so fatal police encounters in this country in 2023 and 2024 looks like the numbers will be very similar.
This is a major problem.
And your film has tracked moments where, as I said, there were sort of a sense that change was on the way.
And now in this moment, a sense where, well, we've got a president who's telling police they can do whatever the hell they want in Washington, DC, for example, and deregulation of all of the kinds of oversights that were put in place in our lifetimes and especially since George Floyd.
What is happening as you show the film now?
What is happening and what do you want to happen?
What can you tell us about the experience you're having with the film now that it's out there in the world, William?
Well, when this film is playing in, we are having the absolute most amazing experience, experiences with people.
I think when we came in, of course, as film makers, you're wondering do you have even have a good film?
And I think after the first private screening that we did, we quickly had to shift to understanding that this film wasn't only good.
This film is powerful and and we have to be able to help people process what they go through because for us this was a six year process.
For anybody else, it's a 95 minute film that they have to digest all of these things that happened.
And so for me to to go across the country, to go somewhere like Brooklyn and to to play a film like this.
And I'm literally just watching my life play out to you.
I'm watching the people that I love and grew up with in a place that I love.
And it's the connection that people feels.
It's just amazing.
And the, the call to action, you know, the, that that's what I see more than anything that we achieved our goal that people are not leaving these theaters angry and saying, yeah, hey, I'll go burn down a car or I want to kill a cop.
No, they're leaving.
They're saying, what can we do?
What can I do?
What can we do together as people to help create this change?
And I think for me, like that's just been the most just heartwarming thing and and the reason why I think that God overall took his time with this project and with us.
Laura, I heard a story that there'd been some amazing things coming out of your screenings, none more amazing than the response of new caring for for Nancy Kowalchuck's.
Son, yes.
And that was an update that Nancy called me about just like a little over a week ago where she told me that because of the people in attendance at the Racine premiere.
So to back up slightly, we had a special like homecoming premiere in Racine in July of 2025.
And we were able to host it in the high school theater, you know, in the halls that Tyrese once walked.
It was his former high school.
And.
And we had over 300 people come and experience the film in the shadow of where the story takes place.
And Nancy Kowalczyk was there that day with her family.
And there was someone in the audience who connected her with with resources for Michael that up to this point, you know, almost 12 years after Michael was originally beaten by Eric Yeezy, he's been living, you know, in pain without the resources that he needs for this entire time.
And they were able to connect and put him in a group home that is supplying him with all of the care and attention that he needs, which are very specialized now.
And Nancy called me in tears, telling me that that Michael is now in this safe place for the first time in 12 years.
And that was because of this connection that was made the day of our Homecoming screening.
Meanwhile, what has happened to Officer Eric Geezy, William?
Well, nothing.
Nothing at all.
Officer Eric Geezy continues to work his job.
He's actually been promoted, you know, And, you know, he's just living his life.
But, I mean, for me, yeah, maybe that's how it looks on the surface, you know?
But even, like I told Laura through this entire process, like, yes, I wanted to be angry.
I wanted to blame Eric Geezy for everything and I wanted him to suffer.
But for me and those moments, the only thing that happens is that you suffer.
Because to make a monster out of a man is just to make a monster out of yourself.
And so for me, it's, it's no longer about Eric easy per SE and pointing him out.
He's just kind of just like Tyrese.
You use him to show that there's a bigger picture, that this continues to happen, that he's just one of many.
And as that continues to grow, as cycle grows, to me that's his suffering.
Every time he has to hear Tyrese name or know about this story or he has to to see the way the community looks at him because this film continues to grow and it will not stop, then that ultimately will be his suffering and his undoing.
We should say that there was ultimately a settlement in the civil action and with the family.
We don't know more details about that, but there are ongoing situations just like this all across the country, and the film I hope will spark people's conversations across the across the country from coast to coast.
And one.
Thought you, I was just.
Going to say one quick thing about the the settlement is that like many points of how the story came together, the fact that the settlement is such a part of the cycle in this broader picture was something that was revealed to us along the way.
We didn't know that going into it.
Of course, we were hopeful that this story would or the civil case would, you know, go to trial and we would come out of that with like some satisfying.
You know, justice that was not served on the steps of the Racine courthouse that day in 2019.
And when after years of this civil suit playing out the way that it did, one very sobering realization that came to me in the course of editing it is how much the settlement process is a part of the cycle, if if families even get that far and.
They get worn down and worn.
Down and worn down.
Until they finally settle and the terms are are are kept secret and and we're all supposed to move on.
But you didn't move on.
And I appreciate you for not moving on.
I guess I would end by asking you, you've hinted at it, a couple of questions.
What in what ways do you think you've been changed by this experience?
William and and Laura.
William first.
Well, for me, when I came into this experience, when I was, I wasn't a filmmaker, I was literally just like this local videographer and I wanted to make music videos.
And, and through something like this, I've, I've learned to understand this, the power and these stories and the power and documentary filmmaking and just being able to also take this process to be able to learn and understand, you know, the traumas that we deal with just personally as black men and just learning to correct my own self and, and trying to correct another man.
Like I said, you, you just learn to correct yourself.
And so that's that.
I think that's the biggest thing that I've been able to learn through this entire thing is that is there cycles within all of us.
And so the when you start to break cycles like it, you know, you want to make that a habit.
Wisdom there, Laura, What about you?
How were you changed in all this?
I mean, for me, the film changed me fundamentally in in ways that I'm still processing and I'm processing it in a lot of ways by seeing how people are receiving the film when we're playing it in a room and people are experiencing it. 1 You know, analogy that to myself that I sort of made through this process is that, you know, it really felt in a lot of ways like I was just the vessel that this story had to come through.
And in this six year journey, it was redefining the way that I listen in, in how you construct a story in the sanctity of, of people's truth and getting it right in a way that resonates universally.
And, and so it has completely redefined the way that I viewed filmmaking and, and, and what I do.
And I just hope that the resonation can or the reverberation can continue far beyond right now.
It's a beautiful film.
Also, I should say, one of the techniques that you bring to this film, the two of you, is to adorn the story with such beautiful graphics, motion graphics, imagery.
It's a gift.
It's really a gift to your storytellers.
It makes all the difference.
Our last question, the question I asked guests on all of our episodes pretty much is what do you think the story will be?
That the future?
I don't know, 2550, a hundred years from now, we'll tell of this moment.
What do you think, Laura?
I think that cycle coming out now was intended to break the silence that we are currently in.
And that is when the signs come off the windows and people, the streets get quiet and the conversation has shifted because there's so much demanding people's attention right now.
And so I believe that cycle is a framework in a, a language that can transcend this moment that I hope will be a foundational resource for people years from now.
What do you think, William?
What do you think the story will be the future tells of now?
Yes, I mean, like when I look back at it, when we have movies like South Central or Boys in the Hood and, and, and for us it, we thought these were major movies.
And as I got older, I realized like what?
Wow, a lot of these movies actually flopped in the box office, but they became cultural staples in our community.
And like I told Laura Cycle definitely fits that bill.
Like, we've never really, I think, looked at documentary work like that.
And for me, Laura changed that drastically.
And I've watched this change happen in every community that we're going into.
And I truly believe that cycle will outlive Laura and I.
And I believe that, like I said, even though she took six years, that it will last 60 and that it will forever change the way that we see documentary work.
Well, I, I, I, I suspect you are right.
So Laura, Diane Kesman and William Howell, thank you so much for being with me.
And for cycle, you can catch it on the festival.
Cycle at this point on the festival circuit, I should say.
And with any luck, it'll come to a streaming platform soon.
It's been a pleasure to spend some time with you.
Thanks for your work.
Thank you, Laura.
Thank you.
Laura, thanks for taking the time to listen to the full conversation.
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