When They See Us
I did it think I needed another headline because the four-part series phenomenon by the amazingly talented screenwriter and director Ava Duvernay, is still the most watched and most talked about Netflix series at the moment.
The back story is heartbreaking. On April 18 1989, five lives of young black men were changed forever in central park, New York. Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam, Korey Wise and Raymond Santana were at the wrong place at the wrong time. Guilty for being black.
A night out of 'wilding out' turned into a nightmare as then lead investigator Linda Fairstein was certain that the Central Park Five coined by the media in the 80s and 90s, just teenage boys aged 14 to 16 committed the heinous crime of rape and brutal assault of a white female jogger.
We see during the series at how far the prosecution and investigators went to wrongfully convict the boys despite their own evidence showing they were nowhere near the crime scene and DNA evidence not matching any of the boys.
Fairstein did not care. She and prosecutor Elizabeth Lederer who had her own doubts of the case still went ahead to trial the boys. The main evidence they used was false guilty admissions in which the boys were coerced and tricked into admitting several acts on the victim they did not commit.
The admissions were captured on camera, where we hear the boys sounding confused, words put in there mouths to fit the puzzle the investigators already conjured up.
The tale is sad, twisted, but true, many people do not know their rights it is not only in this case. Duvenay perfectly depicts how the African American community view the police, a) you do not trust them, b) never talk back to a police officer and c) the black community fears the police and the title of the series matches that relationship perfectly, including how society sees black people.
Not to give much away, this series is a must watch.
You hear over and over again of false convictions, police planting evidence against black suspects, killing them and treating them as subhuman. This is now more evident than ever on body dashcams on officers across America.
These type of stories make my people uncomfortable, the conversation of race and injustice against one group is tough for some to discuss or see.
But the issues and stories are important, I know people close to me and in general feel scared to watch it because conjures up many emotions. I cried watching at times and paused because I was mad.
In the end, I was happy I watched all of it. I tend not to turn a blind eye to issues, confront them head-on and this series does that.
If you have seen the series, share your thoughts below and what type of conversation we should be having.
The back story is heartbreaking. On April 18 1989, five lives of young black men were changed forever in central park, New York. Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam, Korey Wise and Raymond Santana were at the wrong place at the wrong time. Guilty for being black.
A night out of 'wilding out' turned into a nightmare as then lead investigator Linda Fairstein was certain that the Central Park Five coined by the media in the 80s and 90s, just teenage boys aged 14 to 16 committed the heinous crime of rape and brutal assault of a white female jogger.
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| When They See Us, a must-see series. Photo: flixable.com |
We see during the series at how far the prosecution and investigators went to wrongfully convict the boys despite their own evidence showing they were nowhere near the crime scene and DNA evidence not matching any of the boys.
Fairstein did not care. She and prosecutor Elizabeth Lederer who had her own doubts of the case still went ahead to trial the boys. The main evidence they used was false guilty admissions in which the boys were coerced and tricked into admitting several acts on the victim they did not commit.
The admissions were captured on camera, where we hear the boys sounding confused, words put in there mouths to fit the puzzle the investigators already conjured up.
The tale is sad, twisted, but true, many people do not know their rights it is not only in this case. Duvenay perfectly depicts how the African American community view the police, a) you do not trust them, b) never talk back to a police officer and c) the black community fears the police and the title of the series matches that relationship perfectly, including how society sees black people.
Not to give much away, this series is a must watch.
You hear over and over again of false convictions, police planting evidence against black suspects, killing them and treating them as subhuman. This is now more evident than ever on body dashcams on officers across America.
These type of stories make my people uncomfortable, the conversation of race and injustice against one group is tough for some to discuss or see.
But the issues and stories are important, I know people close to me and in general feel scared to watch it because conjures up many emotions. I cried watching at times and paused because I was mad.
In the end, I was happy I watched all of it. I tend not to turn a blind eye to issues, confront them head-on and this series does that.
If you have seen the series, share your thoughts below and what type of conversation we should be having.
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