http://socialistaction.org/film-a-racist-killer-on-trial/
Film: A racist killer on trial
Published August 18, 2015. | By Socialist Action.
Aug. 2015 Jordan
By GAETANA CALDWELL-SMITH
British filmmaker Marc Silver’s documentary, “3 ½ Minutes 10 Bullets,”
mainly consists of the trial of Michael Dunn, the killer of Jordan
Davis, a Black teen. It plays out like television’s “20/20” or
“Dateline” production, with no commercials. Despite the current inflamed
debate on racial injustice, director Silver offers us a cool-headed
portrayal of an egregious white on Black murder.
Question: When does a person unload a clip from an automatic handgun on
a four teenagers sitting in a car in a gas station, killing one of them?
Answer: When a middle-aged white man objects to the loud music the teens
are playing in their car, even after they agree to turn it down but then
increase the volume.
Circumstances: The killer is a known racist and arrogant misogynist; the
teens are Black, and the location is Jacksonville, Fla., where Stand
Your Ground is law.
In the early evening of Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving in
2012, Michael Dunn and his fiancée were returning home to a neighboring
state after his son’s wedding reception. Dunn admitted during his trial
that they’d had a lot to drink. Still, Dunn sent his fiancée into the
store at the gas station to “buy more wine.”
Meanwhile, the teens were on their way to a mall to meet friends after
shooting hoops. When they also stopped at the gas station to buy gum and
snacks, Michael Dunn pumped 10 bullets into their SUV, killing
17-year-old Jordan Davis.
In his film, Silver used footage from security cameras in the gas
station and convenience store to show the actions as they happened. He
included both Davis’s and Dunn’s family videos; courtroom videos and
graphics—which both prosecutor and defense attorney had prepared for the
jury—as well as maps, and audio of recorded phone calls from Dunn to his
fiancée, Rhonda Rouer, when he was in prison.
In one audio recording, Dunn complains that he’s like a rape victim,
blamed for wearing skimpy clothes. He also says that if he hadn’t shot
him, Davis could have killed someone. At one point, Rouer tells him that
he shouldn’t be in prison: “You are man of the waters. A man of peace.”
I couldn’t help thinking, “Wrong! The guy’s a murderer!”
Jordan’s mother Lucia McBath and father Ron Davis had tried
unsuccessfully for years to have a baby. After several miscarriages,
Lucia carried Jordan to full term; he was born by Caesarean section.
Family videos show the parents’ joy at this event. They named him
“Jordan” after the river, Lucia said during an interview. A symbol of
change, renewal, and new beginnings: not after Michael Jordan, as most
thought.
According to one of his friends during an interview, Jordon Davis was a
klutz at basketball, though he dressed the part. In fact, his friends
said that Dunn had the wrong impression of them, especially during the
trial when Dunn insisted that they’d had a gun. No gun was ever found.
Despite Dunn’s labeling them “thugs” who were listening to loud “thug
rap crap music”—as if that would have legitimized his right to shoot
them—it was evident that the kids were just out to have fun with
friends. (“Thug,” Jordan’s friend explained, has become a euphemism for
the “n” word.)
Dunn maintained his innocence throughout his trial. In fact, he played
himself as victim even when he took the stand. The turning point came
when his shaking, obviously terrified, fiancée testified against him. In
an interview with the McKenzies, Dunn’s next door neighbors, which
appears on YouTube but not in the film, they stated that Dunn was an
arrogant bully who voiced his hatred for anyone who did not obey his
orders. They added that they had evidence of his cocaine and alcohol
consumption, wife-beatings, and pornography.
The jury came back with an “undecided” on the first count of
first-degree murder of Jordan Davis; and “guilty” on three counts of
second-degree attempted murder (of Jordan’s friends)—a victory of sorts
for Jordan’s parents. There is a hauntingly beautiful scene of families
of all races marching in support of justice for Jordan, carrying
umbrellas in a heavy rain.
Dunn was sentenced to 60 years in prison with no option for parole. But
Jordan’s parents, relatives, friends, and supporters were not satisfied.
Lucia, whose father had worked with LBJ on the Civil Rights Bill, took
the case to the U.S. Senate, where she succeeded in having the Stand
Your Ground defense thrown out, paving the way for a new trial for
first-degree murder against Dunn. It was a risk, but it paid off. In the
judge’s words: “Mr. Dunn, your life is effectively over!”
Looking back, we see a string of past injustices: i.e., Fruitvale victim
Oscar Grant, shot by a BART cop one New Year’s Day; Trayvon Martin,
killed by a self-proclaimed neighborhood watchman; Jordan Davis,
murdered by a civilian (the latter two used Florida’s Stand Your Ground
law as their defense); and Michael Brown, shot one year ago by a white
officer in Ferguson, Mo. All were young Black males.
We live in a time when Black adults—both male and female—are routinely
beaten, “tazed,” cuffed, physically restrained, and thrown in jail by
cops, often for minor traffic violations. Some, like Sandra Bland last
month in Texas, have died under mysterious circumstances while in custody.
Although the Jordan family was finally able to obtain justice in a small
measure, we cannot rely on the courts, let alone the U.S. Senate, to
stem racist violence. Only with the increasing growth of a mass protest
movement, like Black Lives Matter, can these atrocities be halted.
Photo: Jordan Davis’s mother speaks at a protest rally while holding a
copy of Jet magazine with her son’s portrait on the cover.
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Posted in Arts & Culture, Black Liberation, National Oppression. |
Tagged Black liberation, Black Lives Matter, film, Jordan Davis, movies,
racism.
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