A Chicago police officer turned TV writer says his new crime drama '61st Street' isn't 'a knee jerk reaction to George Floyd'

• "61st Street" is a new crime drama airing on AMC.
• Former Chicago police officer J. David Shanks is a writer and one the executive producers.

Writer and producer J. David Shanks says his new AMC crime drama "61st Street" was "not a knee jerk reaction to George Floyd."

Floyd was a 46-year-old Black man killed by former Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin on May 25, 2020. Chauvin, who is white, was found guilty of murder in the death of Floyd in April 2021 and sentenced to 22 1/2 years behind bars.

The AMC series centers on Black teenage athlete Moses Johnson (played by British actor Tosin Cole), who suddenly finds himself at odds with the corrupt criminal justice system in Chicago when he's wrongly targeted as a gang member. Shanks, a former Chicago police officer turned TV writer, serves as an executive producer on the show, along with BAFTA-winning writer Peter Moffat, who created the show, and actor Michael B. Jordan.

In conversation at a dinner ahead of the April 10 series premiere attended by Insider, Shanks explained that the show, starring Courtney B. Vance as Moses' embittered public defender, had actually been in development for years and is an attempt to "further a much bigger conversation."

Shanks told Insider that while the series is set in the windy city, its themes are applicable across the nation.

"Moses Johnson could be in Anywhere City, America," he said. "Moses represents Black excellence. He also represents the fragility of Black excellence."

He emphasized the difference that arriving just "five minutes later" can have in the life of someone who happens upon the wrong street corner.

"Things go left quickly," said Shanks."Families are destroyed."

The show depicts some of Shanks' personal experiences as an officer who joined the force to provide for his six-year-old son. It also reflects Shanks' experiences a Black cop in a Black community. "I dealt with my own people looking at me as the enemy," he said.

But the show also depicts the flip side of more positive encounters with community members. An early episode shows an officer receiving information from a community member who seems to respect him. In real life, Shanks said he and his partner did form some relationships through kindness. "It was all about how we treated people in the street," he said.

While we've seen crime dramas tackling similar issues in the past, Shanks argued that there is room for "61st Street" in a television legacy that includes "Shots Fired," "Seven Seconds," and "When They See Us."

"What people have become is numb," he said. "It's beginning to lose its sense of urgency because it happens with so much regularity."

"61st Street" airs weekly on AMC and AMC+.