There is a theater here in Dresden which plays films in English late at night or if you're feeling lucky you can go to a Wednesday evening "Sneak Preview", where the theater doesn't announce the movie it's playing ahead of time. The only thing you know when you buy your ticket is that it will be in English. I've been once before and wasn't lucky at all. The movie was called "Insidious" and was supposed to be a horror film that everyone laughed through. However, tonight I was lucky. The film was "Fruitvale Station" and I have to say it was one of the best movies I've seen in a while. I like the documentary style of the movie and how the director chose to portray the main character.
Many people hold the police in high regard and don't think that they are capable of making mistakes. I don't. Do I respect the police? Sure, but I also know that they are humans fully capable of being prejudice, disliking certain things, and just plain having a bad day. I wonder, though, if Johannes Mehserle, the policeman who shot Oscar Grant to death ever thought once about how his prejudices could influence his decision making skills. If he did, what does this say about the police in California, or the United States as a whole? Racial profiling occurs everyday, but how can we use it in a way that doesn't violate individual freedom, or even leave a young man dead at the age of 22, a daughter fatherless before she's old enough to go to school and a girlfriend and mother regretting conversations they had with him shortly before his death.
There are so many young black men in the prison system, I can understand why police think every black man is a bad guy selling drugs to their children. But that is the problem. If everyone thinks a certain group of people is bad then they will typically find a reason to continue to think in that way. At some point, someone has to break the cycle. I believe that if the cycle is to be broken, people ( yes, all of us) have to change the way we think. This doesn't only mean you and I, but the government as well. Holding students back, or not giving them the time and attention they need begins the cycle but putting young men behind bars and/ or killing them doesn't end it but rather furthers the problem.
"Fruitvale Station" does an excellent job of presenting the story in it's true light and making the viewer consider all of the issues surrounding profiling and the police's use of force. Everyone should see it.
