A friend posted a comment on Facebook that bears repeating. She said, “I never cry at movies. In fact, I rarely cry at all. That changed Wednesday when I went to see Fruitvale Station.”
Fruitvale Station tells the true story of Oscar Grant III, who was killed while handcuffed on the platform of a station on San Francisco’s BART system in the early morning hours of New Year’s Day. 2009. He was unarmed but taken in after he defended himself in a fight that took place on the train.
Michael Parnell
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Written and directed by first timer Ryan Coogler, we see the day of Oscar (Michael B. Jordan). Oscar is not a saint. He is an ex-con who is trying to make it in a world where the deck seems continually stacked against him.
He is father of a little girl (Ariana Neal) who he adores. He cheats on his baby mama and girlfriend (Melonie Diaz). Oscar gets fired from his job at the beginning of the movie and threatens his boss with violence, for that is the way of the street.
Oscar carries himself from place to place, engagement to engagement, with a seemingly schizophrenic path. With the people he must show he is a man — the people on the streets — he is harder than a diamond. With his daughter he is as soft as a teddy bear.
In one scene, a customer in the store where he worked needs help with a dish. Oscar goes out of his way to call his grandmother to get the woman, who is white, the help she needs.
Oscar is shown as we all are — a mixture of good things and bad. But the larger question is presented: did he deserve to die?
An even larger question is, Why have we created a society where young African-American men have to be the way Oscar is in order to move through life?
When the police arrive at the BART station, you can see that the African-American young men are going to be treated badly. The person that started all the trouble was white. That person is not even questioned. The catalyst of what takes place remains safely on the train, free to go about his business.
When I attended Comic Con recently, I had the pleasure to meet Georgia Congressman John Lewis. He was there to promote a new graphic novel about his involvement in the civil rights movement of the late 1950s and early 1960s.
I asked Congressman Lewis a question: What would he have me say to my congregation as it regards Trayvon Martin and the verdict?
Congressman Lewis replied, “Tell them to have a dialogue about it. Do not sweep it under the carpet. Discuss it.”
There is a problem in our nation. We need to talk about why so many unarmed African-American young men are killed in this country. Fruitvale Station gives us a chance to have that dialogue. This film aids in that conversation. See it and reflect.
Michael Parnell ([email protected]) is pastor of Beth Car Baptist Church in Halifax, Va.
Fruitvale Station
Rated R for some violence, language throughout and some drug use
Written and directed by Ryan Coogler
WITH: Michael B. Jordan (Oscar Grant III), Melonie Diaz (Sophina), Octavia Spencer (Wanda), Ariana Neal (Tatiana)