Former NFL player Colin Kaepernick has always been a remarkable person but now he’s bringing something to light that’s tragic and shocking, and unfortunately all too familiar. He’s decided to take on House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and the city of Bakersfield that he represents in Congress.

And for very good reason.

There’s a new multi-part documentary soon to appear on Hulu called Killing County. The documentary features first-person interviews with Bakersfield and Kern County individuals and families whose lives have been ruined by gun violence, officer-involved homicides, and other crimes.

Kaepernick served as executive producer on the project and in the trailer, he says that it is “one of the most powerful projects I’ve ever been involved with.” On Twitter, he promoted the documentary and highlighted Bakersfield’s high crime rates and homicides, and describes it as “a thriller set in Kevin McCarthy’s district.

In the trailer, you hear gunshots, 911 calls, an interview with a former police officer as well as individuals who view the city as “a violent place.” We also hear that the city is home to the deadliest law enforcement per capita and the most officer-involved deaths in the U.S.

But here’s one thing you wouldn’t expect: Disney is also involved with the documentary because Ben Meiselas, a Kaepernick Publishing executive producer, told Newsweek that he and Kaepernick struck a deal with the entertainment giant.

Meiselas also has a good understanding of the tragedy that is Bakersfield. He’s a former litigator and knew families based in Bakersfield and surrounding areas and spent much time working with them up until 2013. He met Kaepernick, who grew up in the Central Valley in Turlock around 2016 thanks to his work as a civil rights attorney.

“It was important for us to produce this very impactful content,” Meiselas said. “This project, based on all the kinds of stories and experiences in Bakersfield, was a very unique and harrowing way to shed light on what was taking place there through this prism of the true crime format and genre. It’s an area that likes to say it’s law and order, but when you dig a little beneath the surface, it’s really about breaking the law and complete disorder and chaos.”

And believe me, the daily tragedies happening in this dusty, polluted town don’t look good on McCarthy’s resume.

In 2020, 6,216 violent crime offenses were reported in Bakersfield, according to data provided by an FBI Uniform Crime report. That turns out to be about 692.3 offenses per every 100,000 residents. That same year, the national rate was 390.2 similar offenses that same calendar year, Newsweek reports.

This was a sizable uptick in Bakersfield’s violent crimes as compared to 2019 when 5,567 such crimes were committed. There were increases in murders, robberies, and aggravated assaults. The one spot of good news is that rapes decreased compared to the two previous years.

As you might expect, other crimes were on the rise, with 27,890 crimes being reported in the city in 2020. This includes 3,658 burglaries, 13,995 larcenies, and 7,537 motor thefts. Newsweek reports a total of 3,106 offenses per 100,000 people and this was higher than the national average of 2,008.2.

Bakersfield’s crime reputation is so bad that the website CrimeGrade.org, which uses artificial intelligence, FBI data, and Best Neighborhoods, awarded Bakersfield with an overall “D-” grade when considering violence, property, and other crimes.

But this news is even worse: According to Cal Matters, in 2021 Bakersfield, which had about 380,000 residents, set a record in 2020 with 45 homicides. By November 2021, that number escalated to 57 homicides. As noted by Newsweek, this includes residents waking up to one murder almost every day within the first 15 days of August that same year.

Tragically that number climbed to 60 homicides by the end of the year, setting a new city record, Bakersfield Police Chief Greg Terry told city legislators last April.

An average week in Bakersfield in 2021 looked something like this: nearly 15,000 calls pouring in, including 5,600 911. Officers made 262 total arrests every week, dealt with experienced 22 spot shotter activations (a type of gunshot detection technology) and 102 auto thefts, and four assaults by firearm.

If this isn’t a powder keg situation, then I don’t know what is.

“At the end of the day we know that our community is hurting and suffering, our businesses are suffering in a variety of ways, and we’re really trying to find new solutions and partnerships that can help us deal with many of these issues that are facing our community,” Terry said, The San Joaquin Valley Sun reports.

So how does all of this reflect in Kevin McCarthy?

Last year he included anti-crime reforms to be included in his and the House GOP’s “Commitment to America” agenda. Crime was a pretty big part of McCarthy’s political focus and the majority of Republicans across the country in the run-up to the midterm elections. However, this didn’t translate into major electoral victories, Newsweek reports.

“There is something about demonstrating or showing that this kind of narrative put forward by Kevin McCarthy about other areas and locations—when you start to peel back the curtain of what’s going in his district…I think people will be able to draw their own conclusions about whether the statements he makes are generally accurate of his hometown and his district,” Meiselas said.

But there’s one weird quirk about Kern County: The sheriff is also the coroner, and that, Meiselas adds, raises further questions related to death investigations.

Roughly a year ago, Kaepernick began an autopsy initiative that offers free second autopsies to families.

“I think there’s a lot of moments within this [documentary] where the viewers’ mouths will drop, even within the first 10 minutes,” he said. “There’s a lot of twists and turns; all of this really happened. It will be told from the perspective of those who lived it.”

At one point Meiselas was asked if the Bakersfield Police Department or anyone from McCarthy’s office participated. He answered they showed interest initially but then dropped out at the last minute before interviews could be conducted.

Is that really all that surprising? Obviously, this city’s police department, like far too many across the country, needs an overhaul.

https://twitter.com/Kaepernick7/status/1618312415577542659