I wore this to see Fruitvale Station on Sunday at the Angelika after learning about the Zimmerman verdict. At first it felt too instructional to go - trite even - and I resisted leaving, but the uneasy feeling in my stomach regarding the outcome wouldn't go away. That a defense team had successfully argued that a 17-year-old boy, being pursued in the night by a man with a gun, had "weaponized" the sidewalk causing the aggressor to suddenly turn into the victim is mind-blowing. It seems that Justice and Reasoning fell into the same black hole Logic did at the beginning of the trial.
Jewelry: Catbird knuckle rings, bracelet and turquoise ring found // Shoes: Dexflex Of course, my newsfeed reflected the varied and polar responses to the trial - people who understand institutional racism, casual racists, apathetic young people who just couldn't give a fuck! about the Zimmerman case. There were too many people telling each other how to think and feel. I needed to chill out and see a movie that had something positive to say about black men. So I went to the Angelika.
Fruitvale Station is based on the story of Oscar Grant - a young, wayward man who senselessly lost his life on New Year's Day, 2009 in San Francisco. Handcuffed along with several of his friends, Grant was shot in the back by a BART Police Officer who had thought he'd taken out his taser. Jordan's performance serves to humanize Grant, and consequently, humanize black men to a public that (as evidenced by the extremely racist responses to Zimmerman's acquittal) has marginalized and vilified them.
Shrouded in the markers of a stereotypical black man from the city - long tees and hoodie, a spotty employment history, every sentence punctuated with the surprisingly affectionate "bruh" - Jordan demands the viewer to see through all of that ornamentation, past the skin, to the real guy. A family man who loved his girlfriend and daughter unconditionally but not without flaw. And as a viewer, you do see the humanity. The lights came on to a tearful audience. A mixture of guilt, helplessness, and anger filled the room.
Whether or not the movie (and others like it) has an effect will be seen in how we decide, as a country, to talk about black men and in steps we'll take to ensure that everyone in this country finds justice for any evils brought upon him.
