[yasr_overall_rating]
Amidst the chaos of the Detroit Rebellion, with the city under curfew and as the Michigan National Guard patrolled the streets, three young African American men were murdered at the Algiers Motel.
This is not a story for entertainment.
This is not a story of pretending that time heals all wounds.
This is not a story of black and white answers.
This story is troubling and challenging and difficult to comprehend no matter what your viewpoint might be. This is probably the rawest and most honest storytelling there has been about our history of “civil rights” for quite some time.
The Detroit riot of 1967 began in the very early morning hours of a Sunday in July when police raided an unlicensed bar. The police act itself was legitimate, but the relationship between the police and the black community was obviously at a breaking point. The raid quickly escalated with the police decision to arrest everyone present as it became intensely confrontational when onlookers gathered and then violent as the public pushed back in rage, initiating a riot that lasted for five days.
The story of the film focuses on one particular tragic event that took place in the following days between law enforcement and residents at the Algiers Motel. Believing that a sniper was at the location, the local police along with the National Guard interrogated and brutalized the occupants, resulting in the murders of three men. The local officers are eventually brought to trial, but in what would appear to be an open and shut case, injustice proves to be a bitter pill to swallow.
However, the real story here is not about who was right and who was wrong or who deserves to die and who deserves to live. The real heartache of this story is what happens to us when we neglect our humanity for too long, when we refuse to listen to our anger before it explodes. And even worse than that, is what happens after we have dehumanized and neglected ourselves for so long that fear takes hold.
Because deeply rooted fear always, always, always creates hate.
In our era of “enlightenment,” you may think you know who the bad guys and the good guys are….but do you really understand the power of fear and self-preservation??
Does looting and destroying your own communities make any sense for justice?
Why do you think we have rules of engagement when it comes to war?
How drastically does human reasoning alter to justify one’s actions of self-defense?
Can you see why the police and the firefighters and their families were just as afraid as the civilians who were being terrorized and unjustly apprehended because tensions were so high and emotions so distorted?
Yes, civilian rights and police authority were no doubt in serious conflict with violent disorder on both sides. But how do you answer this? The vicious cycle of anger and fear and hate and distrust spins faster and faster until there is a literal war and the price of vengeance is paid for with innocent lives. And in the end, justice can never be found to answer the devastation wrought by that fear and hate.
There is one scene in the film that is particularly disturbing as two young white girls are partying with a group of young black men at the motel. They are discussing their perceptions of “being black” and one of the men, Carl Cooper (Jason Mitchell) pulls a toy gun on another of the men, pretending to be the hate-filled, distrustful “white cop.” The girls don’t know that the gun isn’t real and are horrified when he actually shoots the gun and the other man falls down as though struck. The point is, Carl believes that the only way to get the girls to really understand what it means to live with the fear of “being black” is to force that fear back on to them with the same unkindness and injustice that he himself lives with every day. It is a sardonic twist of truth to force understanding by continuing the cycle of ugliness and abuse.
Ultimately, the film forces questions of perception and the grossly blurred lines between right and wrong. Not only that, but there is a deeper heartache that realizes that justice – actual fair justice – is incapable of yielding a real peace and wholeness. There is no amount of money or jail sentence that can replace a loved one or heal a hate-filled heart. In the end, truth is not black or white. “Truth” is a question that we are still learning to not answer, but instead just listen to, with acceptance and kindness.
“Detroit” is a powerful film, not because it tells the true story of the disturbing racism and violence, but because it asks truly hard questions and it does not pretend to answer them. Instead, “Detroit” compels us to think about our humanity even now and the perceptions we still unjustly foster toward one another, black or white, cop or civilian, innocent and guilty. Not one of us is all one or the other. We all have succumbed to fear, and the hate and violence that comes from fear.
But we also have the power to choose love and courage…
And it will take every ounce of your courage to truly listen to the powerful message of this film.
In theaters Friday, July 28th
