In my life time I have been witness to men, women and
children being lynched, beaten, burned, attacked by dogs, assaulted with fire
hoses, stabbed, blown up by bombs, dragged behind pickup trucks, drowned, raped
with sticks, beaten with bats, infected with syphilis and riddled with bullets –
for just being Black. And every time one of these atrocities is committed, the
truth of it all must be told. That is why Director Ryan Coogler’s film, “Fruitvale
Station,” about the senseless death of young Oscar Grant III, is so important
and deserves our patronage and attention.
However, I will not be in the audience to see “Fruitvale
Station.” After six decades of bearing witness, I no longer have the capacity
to re-live on film the pain, suffering and loss that pierces more deeply every
time the reality of racism occurs.
Still, I purchased tickets to the film because I believe it
is important to support this young artist and his attempt to make us look when
it is so easy to turn away and forget. I will not forget but I must turn away. I
hope that by purchasing ticket to “Fruitvale Station” anyway, I show my support
for a work of art that that may help us understand that racism, in all of its
ignorance and brutality, consumes and destroys whenever it is allowed to
thrive.
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