Shattered Dreams:
When the dramatics are about to go on and stage to sing, a policeman notifies about the riots and tells the hosts to clear out the building. This makes Larry emotional and we see him go on stage in front of empty seats. The imagery of him performing alone with no audience represents and symbolizes the broken dreams and the opportunities robbed from many others due to the racial issues.
Shoot First:
When the house from where Carl shoots his fake gun has been surrounded, we see the police raid the place with force. When one of the officers sees Greene with Julie and Karen, he gets a disgusted look on his face. Flynn, the officer, then proceeds to shoot the other door in the room and then asks whether someone is in there. This imagery reflects the shoot first and check later nature of the police force represented in the film.
No Second Wasted:
The opening artistic imagery of the film immediately points towards the topic the film will be tackling. This imagery being at the very beginning of the film also signifies the brutally straight forward way the film presents the injustices against the black community.
Situation:
Right at the starting few scenes, we see a police force arresting a large group of black people. This very public arresting causes the other residents to start protesting against the police and the tension starts to escalate quickly. All of this imagery quickly accustoms the audience with how little trust the community has in their police and foreshadows a much bigger falling out later in the film.
