Ferguson Rises

This documentary is both very well made and a very powerful and important story. I saw it at a film festival and I hope it finds a distributor that can get this film a wide release so everyone has the opportunity to see it. It will make you mad and make you think and hopefully move you to action. Which is what the best documentaries do. Make sure you see this film.

The senseless murder of 18-Year-Old Michael Brown Jr. Was neither the first nor the worst in America's long history of race-based and anti-Black-biased Police violence.

Initial reports that Michael was shot while retreating with his hands up are hard to substantiate - as were the later claims that the young, recent high-school graduate just wildly and randomly attacked an armed and uniformed uniform, in broad daylight - from outside of the officer's marked police vehicle.

. The claim is ridiculous - unless your racial bias leads you to believe that Black people are just plain bezerkers with innately violent natures and zero self-control. We are not. That sterotype is - of course - ludicrous and far from the truth. Still. Many believe it. - even if they don't know why.

. This movie tells the story of how the officer's slightly rosier cheek - which is on the left side in his "story", yet seems to be on the right side of his face in the photographs - almost as if he did it himself... to make himself look like the "victim".

. The film itself is a stirring and steady-handed look at the days immediately following the murder and the filmmakers stick through, with Michael Brown Sr. The victim's strong though tortured Father, other family and a diverse collection of voices from the Ferguson area.

. Looking on with the Father as a center of our attention and empathy is another powerful difference between this film and others like it [there are too many docs and movies based on true stories of this kind... yet none of those are quite like this film.

. The Director, Producers, Cinematographer and many other contributors to this project have done a service to Machael Brown, his friends, family and community - and to all interested parties that are wanting to take a deep and nuanced dive into this terrible - and terribly common - truly American tragedy.

I highly recommend this documentary because whether you know a little or a lot about what happened in Ferguson, this documentary has new things you can learn and feel. It answers the question of "what was all the ruckus" about there? Like Birmingham, Stonewall, and Oakland, Ferguson got on the map as a jump-off point for a new level of mass organization (case and point the Black Lives Matter movement) against institutionalized racism and police violence against Black people.

Further, this documentary does an amazing job of humanizing Mike Brown through the main subject, HIS FATHER. You also get to see many sides of the story because In addition to interviews of Mike Brown's family, friends, and neighbors, there are interviews of Black and white police and various everyday people as well as activists and protestors featured. I was especially moved by the parents of many Black people who've been killed by police coming together in one room in the documentary to support each other while being shown to have become activists.

At a the Q&A after a screening of the film, I heard it's creator (Mobolaji) say that he began making this documentary with personal money straight out his pocket. He made deep sacrifices to make something that would answer his little son's question of, "What did you do when this happened, Daddy?" Mobolaji said he picked up the camera and just went down there. Not famous and unknown to the participants in the documentary, he hit the ground forming relationships and getting as many interviews and footage that he could to combine with archival footage and statistical data.

The documentary marks the mid 2010s era in a critical way and should become required viewing for schools and a staple documentary contributing to the understanding of African-American life and resistance.

No surprise that DNA evidence inside the car and Wilson's that proved Brown tried to grab it & a bullet wound practically on the top of DinduNuffin He a good boi Mike Brown proving he was charging at Wilson and not with his "Hand's Up Don't Shoot" we're not featured in this clearly biased piece Usual testimonial lies from people who where never there keeps being amplified by a divisive lying media as truth and actual evidence keeps getting forgotten and ignored by those with a vested interest in those lies All these lies birthed the BLM movement only interested in sucking up as much money from corporations and ONLY interested when a black criminal loses his life at the hands of a usually white officer and ignoring the massive black deaths killing each other and ignoring the fact that more white criminals are killed in police interacti9ns than black ones The ghost of LBJ must be proud and the new Slavery lube he created.