‘Fruitvale Station’ Shows Black Male Humanity

Jessie Washington, Associated Press

Oscar Grant did not deserve to die.

This is the central message of “Fruitvale Station,” a film dramatizing the real-life case of the young unarmed black man shot in the back by a white police officer in 2009. It’s a common message, often heard in film and life in general. But the way writer/director Ryan Coogler delivers this message is extraordinary.

[…]

By the time the credits roll, Oscar Grant has become one of the rarest artifacts in American culture: a three-dimensional portrait of a young black male – a human being.Which raises the question: If Grant was a real person, what about all these other young black males rendered as cardboard cutouts by our merciless culture? What other humanity are we missing?

[…]

“If there’s one thing missing in our country, it’s an acknowledgment of the broad humanity of black folks,” Ta-Nehisi Coates recently wrote on his blog at TheAtlantic.com. “Racism – and anti-black racism in particular – is the belief that there’s something wrong with black people.”

The remedy: “Close the gap between what they see and who we really are,” Coates wrote.

To read the full article, click here.

Learn more about the real case.

For more breaking news, click here.