Typically when it comes to high profile cases, I like to stay updated on new findings and if those findings will bring distort families closer to justice. Why? Because like most black people when I see a crime committed, despite the murderers occupation, race or gender I think the victim’s family should have peace of mind knowing their loved one’s killer is behind bars. So what am I talking about? Most of us are familiar with the many high profile cases of cops (or wannabe cops) killing black men and boys and walking away as though nothing happened.
There was a documentary filmed which provides some background information on events that transpired leading up to Michael Brown’s death. Director Jason Pollock did not hold back in boldly expressing his frustration in how the authorities handled Brown’s case. There was footage of what transpired between Brown and clerks at the gas station he allegedly robbed. Footage Pollock said was intentionally withheld by the Ferguson Police Department. Why? This footage changes the narrative of who the media depicted Michael Brown to be.
Many argue that Pollock’s narrative is completely one-sided and favors Brown’s grieving family but the media’s narrative has been just as bias. From the moment Michael Brown’s body laid in the streets for hours uncovered in the hot sun the media has defended the deplorable actions of the Ferguson Police Department. They defended Brown and his friend being racially profiled, they defended his body laying in the street for hours and tried to paint him as a villain who “got what he deserved.”
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VoozxQMyWY]
Michael Brown was a recent high school graduate who was headed off to college. Was he perfect? No but who is? We are far too familiar with this countries amazing ability to demonize black victims and praise white terrorists. The video in question shows that Brown wasn’t perfect but it also show he wasn’t a thief. Pollock worked hard to give us the information the Ferguson Police Department and mainstream media outlets intentionally withheld.
The film was named after this famous poem:
Strange Fruit
By Billie Holiday and Abel Meeropol (1937)
Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.
Pastoral scene of the gallant south,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.
Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.
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