Ricardo G. Williams, author of “Unchained Mind”, writes a blog at blogster and this particular post stayed in my mind for a long time and as I watched “Detroit” it came back to me and the comments made by a group of people: BrotherDocs, MsPurrrrfect, AmalaTSering, AkunaKumara, Jayyyohhh, Concervative and a couple of others who, obviously, have no idea what Black men go through in everyday life in our cities and THEY ARE THE ONES WHO SHOULD SEE THIS STORY! Plus those who think they have any idea of Black life in the USA!

To read the post and the comments go here:

https://www.blogster.com/thewritertwo/should-i-be-traumatized-by-the-police-or-am-i-paranoid

“Detroit” is a very violent movie and should be seen more by white people than black people. As a gay activist I’ve been involved with some police actions such as tear gas, being hit by police batons, being thrown in ‘wagons’ and taken to jail but what this film shows is the sheer brutality of police let loose.

I was not really aware of this Detroit story as I was moving my life to Memphis, Tennessee, in 1967, where Martin Luther King had been recently assassinated and I was told when I had to drive to Mississippi “We you have 3 strikes against you: being a Yankee, being a Jew, Being Gay—at least you aren’t a N-----!”

This is a rough movie on the audience and I have no idea how a Black person could sit through it but every White person should before they ever blame any Black person for doing what they have to do to survive. The story, based mostly on facts, written by Mark Boal and directed by Kathryn Bigelow, brings you into the world as it was played out that July 23^rd. It is physically powerful, provoking, grim and no ‘happily after’.

Three white policemen are put on trial for what happened, with an all white jury so the outcome is a given. Facts show that the policemen were the bad guys and at the end the credits tell what happened to them plus Larry Reed, played by Algee Smith, who was about to hit the big time with a group of his friends and called The Dramatics. Their appearance is cut short by a riot taking place outside and moves to the Algiers Hotel, a seedy place catering to drugs, hookers and other mayhem. While there is violence going on outside the film concentrates on seven Black men and two young white girls who came from Ohio, though it is not quite clear how or why they became to be where they were.

Scene after scene is a powder keg, sometimes exploding, always part of the riot that is going on further away. Interspersed are real video clips from those days.

Will Poulter, as the cop in charge is despicable from his first appearance while it takes some time for his two partners Ben O’Toole and Jack Reynor to join him in his vicious ‘games’.  John Boyega as a well meaning Black security guard, Algee Smith, Jacob Latimore, Jason Mitchell, Anthony Mackie as a completely disrespected Vietnam war vet are exceptional while Kaitlyn Dever and Hannah Murray as the two girls from Ohio are believable and make it hard to believe one of them would go on to have 4 children and be a hairdresser in real life.

“Detroit” is a too long film that could have easily been cut by 20 minutes and the violence can at times be almost sickening especially when showing the interrogation sequences but Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal and, director of photographer, Barry Ackroyd bring you into the scenes of outrageous enforcement methods and catches you emotionally.

“Detroit” is a film that white people who think they know, or even don’t know, black people, should be filling the auditoriums of theatres.

Movie trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-2_1tUnIWM