There are neighborhoods in America where the air you breathe can determine the life you live. Under The Fifth is born from that truth.
This story began with a question: What happens when silence becomes currency? When a grieving daughter uncovers that her survival was paid for by someone else's, she is forced to reckon with the quiet violence of systems that hide behind policy, privilege, and power.
The title carries dual meaning. It references Fifth Avenue, towering over Manhattan with wealth and detachment, where corporations flourish just miles away from communities they’ve endangered. And it evokes the Fifth Amendment, the legal shield of silence, so often used not to protect the innocent, but to conceal the guilty.
Tamika Young’s journey isn’t heroic in the traditional sense. It’s weary. Reluctant. Human. She’s not trying to expose the world, just trying to understand the price her father paid. What begins as personal grief becomes a public reckoning. And somewhere between justice and futility, a new voice is born.
Under The Fifth is not a courtroom drama. It’s a confrontation with the invisible. A look into the fine print of survival. It’s about how silence is inherited and what it means to finally break it.
— Ryan Coogler