 | | Gary Duncan and Richard Sobol, his lawyer.Shout! Studios/Augusta Films |
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'Being Black in this country, you're guilty until proven innocent.' |
Gary Duncan was 19 and living in Plaquemines Parish, La., in 1966 when he tried to break up an argument between white and Black teenagers outside a newly integrated school. Mr. Duncan, who is Black, put a hand on a white boy's arm, and that simple act led the police to burst into his home and arrest him for assault on a minor. |
What followed was a complicated legal fight that made its way to the Supreme Court. |
Now a new documentary, "A Crime on the Bayou," explores both the case and the lasting bond that was formed between Mr. Duncan and his lawyer, Richard Sobol. Inspired by the book "Deep Delta Justice" by Matthew Van Meter, A Crime on the Bayou is the third film in a trilogy by Nancy Buirski that profiles people who fought for justice in and around the civil rights era. |
 | | Richard Sobol |
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I recently caught up with one of the film's executive producers, Mike Jackson, about the documentary's relevance today, an era marked by the murder of George Floyd and nationwide protests against systemic racism. Our conversation has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity. |
Why was it important to get this documentary developed and bring attention to this particular incident in the civil rights movement? |
Everything's still happening. Racism is alive and kicking. I think to highlight the stories and the atrocities that have happened to people of color, for decades, it's really important for us to get behind those stories and use our platforms. If we don't, it'll never end. |
Racism is just so alive and strong these days that I think it's important to trace it back to the origin stories. |
 | | Gary Duncanvia Shout! Studios/Augusta Films |
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Are there moments during the creation of the film, or moments within the film that stand out to you? |
For me personally, I think the highlight moment in the movie is the overall messaging about how easily someone of color could be accused of something and their life being turned upside down. Connecting the dots between how racism has been dealt with in this country and how hard it is to navigate America as a Black man, and how easy it is for someone to say, "they did it." |
The system typically works in the favor of the accuser, which is often not the person of color. Being Black at any moment in time means you could be perceived to be guilty whether you've done something or not. |
Can you talk a bit more about the specific parallels you see in this film and parallels to racial injustices of today? |
It's ironic that you asked me this question because I recently saw a headline and read an article about two young Black men. One was about to be a freshman in college on an athletic scholarship and the other one was his younger brother, and they had just gone on a family vacation and the father allowed his kids to go out and meet a friend. Apparently they matched a description of two Black men who were in an altercation earlier that day. They were arrested and were held in jail without any charges for 30 days. |
During the course of that 30 days, the older son lost his scholarship to college, and no charges were ever filed. And it made me think of ourselves, again, the timeliness of it and the relevance of it because literally being Black in this country, you're guilty until proven innocent. It just shows the inequalities of this country. All we're asking for is equality. And I think our film explores that in an extraordinary way. |
 | | Mike JacksonErin Brooks |
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Whom do you hope the film reaches? |
Folks that for whatever reason refuse to see what racism does to this country. Maybe they can connect the dots of this film to the death of George Floyd and all the other atrocities that have happened in this country over so many decades and finally realize this is real, this is happening. I have zero expectations that it's going to happen because these last two years in particular — the things people have said and the things we've seen when it comes to race relations in this country — are just really discouraging. But again, maybe this film can inspire people in some way to right the wrongs in this country. So hopefully, at the very least, this film could be a power for more action and more justice. |
What can people learn from Gary Duncan and his story? |
I think the takeaway is faith. |
Gary Duncan was trying to do the right thing and stop violence by breaking up this situation, and it backfired. But through that process, he stood tall and he found faith and found allyship from someone that didn't look like him. And I think hopefully the message is, like the Underground Railroad, it takes a village. It takes all types of people to overcome adversity. And I think it's really important that faith exists in any fight that you're about to take on, that you have faith that you can get to the other side of it with your head held high. |
A Homage to Black Boyhood |
Danielle Young coined the term "Black Boy Joy" in 2016 after watching Chance the Rapper exude happiness at MTV's Video Music Awards. A welcome contrast to how young Black men are often portrayed in the media, it soon became a hashtag. In the introduction to his anthology of the same name, Kwame Mbalia (author of the Tristan Strong series) confesses that he doesn't like watching the news, because growing up it was "always reporting on some local shooting or some death or some other tragedy that made my mother shake her head and my father scowl … because nine times out of 10, a face like mine was on the screen." |
That's why Mbalia invited 16 Black author friends to help him highlight "the revelry, the excitement, the sheer fun of growing up as boys in and out of the hood." From stories (by the likes of Jason Reynolds, Varian Johnson and Tochi Onyebuchi) to poetry (Dean Atta) and comics (Jerry Craft), "Black Boy Joy" has something for every type of reader. |
"Got Me a Jet Pack," by the Jamaican American poet and filmmaker Don P. Hooper, explores a day in the life of Rodney Halfway Tree Clarke, a boy from East Flatbush, Brooklyn. (Halfway Tree, his middle name, is the place in Jamaica where his parents met.) When Rodney accidentally kicks a soccer ball into his Jamaican neighbor's backyard and she shepherds him into her house, he's sure she's going to reprimand him, but instead she gives him a special black hoodie to put on (it "will provide yuh with oxygen") and pulls out a large crystal. Before he knows it, he's in "freaking space." |
Turns out his parents have been leading a double life, and his father, who participates in races to settle disputes between rival galaxies and planets, has disappeared. If he doesn't show up, Earth could get invaded. In this empowering science fiction story, it's up to Rodney to take his father's place and save the day. |
A more down-to-earth tale, "The Legendary Lawrence Cobbler," by the young adult novelist Julian Winters, follows Jevon Lawrence, a seventh grader who wants to be a chef and is competing in his school's baking contest. He recently told his father, who shares his passion for cooking, "I think I like boys," while they were making red velvet brownies together, and things have felt "weird" between them ever since. He fears his father's awkwardness means he doesn't love him anymore. |
But when Rodney's gospel-singing, two-stepping G'Ma arrives to teach them how to make her peach cobbler and shares a not-so-secret secret of her own, he realizes that what his dad has always told him is true: "Fear is just forgetting everything's all right." This touching story will resonate with young Black boys everywhere who are longing for acceptance as they struggle with newfound feelings. |
[Read the rest of the review here.] |
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