“Higher Learning” is a 1995 film directed by John Singleton. It’s one of the films from his collection, which might be lesser known than some of his other films, but it also offers quite a bit of social commentary. The story provides a look into the social, racial, and gender politics of a college campus. There are certainly main characters, but I look at the film as an ensemble piece that follows multiple characters balancing college with figuring out who they want to be.
Tag: <span>young Black male</span>
A review of “3 ½ Minutes, Ten Bullets”, a 2015 Sundance-winning documentary that tells the story of the shooting death of Jordan Davis in Jacksonville, Florida. To be more precise, the documentary dives into the events leading up to the murder of Jordan Davis and the resulting trial of Michael Dunn.
“Cooley High” is a classic in the Black film canon but sets itself apart as one of the few true Black coming-of-age films. The 1975 film tells the story of two high school friends with big dreams who are growing up in Chicago during the 1960s. Set against a classic Motown soundtrack, the boys cut school to hang out and chase girls. But their lives are forever changed when their teenage hijinks include hanging with the wrong crowd.
“Will” by Will Smith is an autobiography about the rapper and actor that charts his life from a childhood in West Philadelphia to being a Hollywood megastar. The book covers how he got into the emerging scene of hip hop music and then later went into acting. But there’s also a personal story throughout about him, his family, and the experiences that shaped him as a person. It’s an unexpectedly candid account of the ups and downs in Smith’s life that led to me finishing the book with a different perspective of the man and insightful questions for myself.
“They Can’t Kill Us All” by Wesley Lowery is a relatively recently published book detailing incidents of police shootings. And really also White vigilante shootings of Black people in America. Many of whom were unarmed. The book charts the author’s experience as a relatively new journalist. But it also discusses the rise of the Black Lives Matter Movement in response to the killings of unarmed Black people.