Colin Kaepernick, the executive producer of a 3-documentary series regarding gun violence in Bakersfield, calls it a “true-crime thriller” and criticizes Kevin McCarthy, the newly elected speaker of the House, and his Central California district for being the greatest number of officer-involved shootings in the nation.
The Hulu premiere of Killing County on February 3 shows a Bakersfield family as they attempt to make peace with the death of a loved one. They learn during their healing process that they are not the only ones who have been affected by gun violence.
In the docuseries’ trailer, Kaepernick remarked that it was “one of the most impactful projects I’ve ever been associated with.”
In a recent Tweet, Kaepernick noted that Kern County had the greatest murder rate, the largest crime rate, and the largest amount of police executions, or, as he put it, “police executions,” making the name Killing County even more appropriate.
The Bakersfield Police Department has received negative press before. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck was banned in Kern County in 1939 in part due to the book’s unfavorable picture of local politicians.
Bakersfield and the surrounding area have such high levels of crime and gun violence that Governor Gavin Newsom once nicknamed the county “the murder capital of California.”
