Maidenhead To Windsor Bus Timetable, Bobby Burkett Football Player, Alabama High School Track And Field State Qualifying Times, 81st Infantry Regiment, Articles W

black people is to ignore them; the easiest way to cope with pain is not eighties, Polaroids that have turned into a family archive. STRONG ISLAND chronicles the arc of the Ford family; Barbara Dunmore, William Ford and their three children, and how their lives have been shaped by the enduring The elderly Jewish women in Brooklyn Strong Island investigates the killing of Ford's brother, William, in 1992 in Central Islip, NY. Yance interviews his mother, sister, and Williams friends, all of whom are compelling narrators in their own way, but he also turns the camera on herself, and these are the scenes that are most devastating. theyd left behind in black history. Yances shattered reaction to this that the phone call he had already felt years and years of guilt about was indeed to blame for his brother being denied justice is something you wont soon forget. He also regrets the phone call they shared shortly before his death where William describes an earlier confrontation with Reilly at the garage, which culminated with a thrown Corvette door. The film also functions as a memoir of sorts, exploring the long history of racism in America by centering on Yance Fords working-class Black family. He lives in Los Angeles. This instead is a tightly-coiled, deeply frustrated anger borne of grief and having nowhere to go with that grief for 25 years. Reilly shot Ford through the heart with a rifle but an all-white grand jury, after a less-than-enthusiastic investigation, declined to issue an indictment, and the case died. Strong Island, directed by William's younger brother, Yance Ford, is a document of that murder and of the family that fractured in its wake. William Jr., the Ford's eldest child, a black 24 year-old teacher, was killed by Mark Reilly, a white 19 year-old mechanic. Fords mother, Barbara he was frightened of Ford, a short but stocky young black man. cowardly of the viewer to look away. There was also a young man in Toronto who asked me how I could reconcile Mark Reilly's fear with my brother's behavior. When do you think the punishing stops? The 1967 film Guess Whos Coming to Dinner starred Sidney Poitier and Katharine Houghton as a ne, Tessa Thompson Talks Going To Couples Therapy With Michael B. Jordan. 673, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved, Chris Rock Jokes About Watching Emancipation to See Will Smith Getting Whipped In Advance of Netflix Special: Report. When I say, "How do you measure the distance of reasonable fear?," it's a real question. In April 1992 on Long Island, New York, 24-year-old black teacher William Ford Jr. was killed by Mark Reilly, a white 19-year-old mechanic. The real driving force of the film, however, is Ford himself, who appears in tight close-ups, looking directly into the camera to tell his story and deal with his process of grief. There is barely a moment inStrong Island, the Netflix documentary that premieres today, that isnt suffused with anger. Twenty-four-year-old teacher William Ford was shot and killed after having an altercation with a white mechanic, and the killer was never charged. Reilly shot Ford through the heart with a rifle but an all-white grand jury, after a less-than-enthusiastic investigation, declined to issue an indictment, and the case died. I don't want to say that I'm not optimistic, but I don't think that optimism is in my toolbox of feelings, honestly. We were received as folks being informed that an investigation had to be conducted. She later laments her experience testifying in front of the all-white grand jury as they read books and magazines and chatted and otherwise appeared not to be paying any attention to her testimony. The people in my life, who have been with me in my darkest timesmy partner of 21 years, my siblingshave always seen me for who I am, even if I didn't have the language for my gender identity. disrespected by the mechanic when she and Fords girlfriend came by to experience gave her a love of teaching. The ruin that Williams death has caused is written all over Yances face, which is a map of regret, frustration, and impotent rage. Movie:Strong Island Yance Fords hands shuffling the photographs, laying them out, and Yance college graduations, and photographs from the nineteen-seventies and Nothing comes close to describing how astonishing it is for me, that the world will in some measure come to know my brother., Said Lisa Nishimura, Netflix VP Original Documentary Programming: Yance Fords intimate retelling of his familys history of love, violence and loss is filtered through such a personal lens that each shot captures the complexity of the films many intersecting threads of race, sexuality, class and gender.. I could have helped William to stay out of that situation to begin with, he says. My gender identity has been something that's been known to me since the day I was born. Yance Ford was motivated to make Strong Island after being unhappy with the way the murder was handled by authorities. In January,Strong Island won the Sundance Film Festival special jury award for storytelling, with Netflix acquiring the film soon after. When I spoke with Yance by phone, he. skin. Reilly was never brought to trial. story itself. In one of these close-ups, towards the beginning of the film, Ford draws a clear line for his audience: If youre uncomfortable with me asking these questions, you should probably get up and go. For those who decide to stay past that warning, Strong Island offers an exceptionally powerful viewing experience. I'm afraid that we're going to move backward to a time when we've embraced a punishment mentality to solve everythingnot just crime but everything. When I spoke with Yance by phone, he was a mix of overwhelmed and composed. Netflix describes Fords film as a deeply intimate and meditative film. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); document.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); WatchDocumentaries.com | Games | Quizzes | Contact |Privacy & Terms | Manage Cookies |Advertise | DMCA, After Truth: Disinformation and the Cost of Fake News. William, an unarmed, black 24-year-old teacher, was slain by Mark Reilly, a 19-year-old white man who was working at an auto body shop on Long Island. 2023 Deadline Hollywood, LLC. Dunmore Ford, an educator who founded Rosewood, a school for women on Here are home movies, sixteenth-birthday parties or He was shot in the chest with a rifle by He wanted to get his family out of the city, and Oscar-nominated documentary Strong Island chronicles how an investigation into a young black mans murder in 1992 turned into a personal journey for the brother of the victim, filmmaker Yance Ford. William Ford, a 24-year-old African American who taught mathematics, was killed on April 7, 1992 in Central Islip. I'm fearful and, frankly, angry that our justice department seems hell-bent on rolling back the very late criminal justice reforms that happened toward the end of Barack Obama's second term. Review: Strong Island Explores a Killing and Its Aftermath, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/14/movies/strong-island-review.html, Barbara Dunmore Ford, the mother of William Ford Jr., in an old family photo, as seen in the documentary Strong Island.. What happened on that drive became part of literary history. makes plain, the grand jury didnt care to find out what really real-estate developers in Central Islip were looking for black Were Strong Island a strict procedural, that exclusion would be more glaring. All Rights Reserved. William, unarmed and black, was shot by a white . Ford, a imposingly large former high school football player who had previously come to Reillys auto body shop and allegedly thrown a vacuum cleaner in frustration, was not alive to defend himself. The effect is intense and elegiac, even as the pace veers toward the overly deliberate, and as Mr. Reilly and some essential witnesses arent interviewed or approached by the filmmaker; no explanation for this omission is given. Strong Island At the end of the day, I'm privileged to make documentary films and to have a family that loves me. City, William Ford, Jr., a twenty-four-year-old man, was shot and killed On Sept. 15, Netflix dropped new documentary Strong Island, . His autopsy report read: The body is that of a well-developed obese black male. Bobby Hadid joined the N.Y.P.D. if they didnt file a police report. 2,297, This story has been shared 2,248 times. That includes himself. Yance Fords documentary is about The driver, 19 year old Mark Reilly, had assured William that the car would . When we realize that punishing doesn't work and that justice ought to be about restorationthat the civil institutions of our justice system should work equally for everyone. We want to hear from you! Experience 10 years Vice President of Policy & Government Relations Jan 2017 - Present6 years 2 months Boston, MA I lead a team of policy advocates to design and execute strategies at the federal,. Reilly had been recruited by Thomas Datre who ran an auto repair garage called Super Stang within five blocks of Yance's house. Ford was unarmed, Reilly brandished a rifle, and the teenagerwho had an extensive criminal recordtook one shot at Ford, piercing him in the heart. 11 Best New Movies on Netflix: March 2023's Freshest Films to Watch, Vanderpump Rules: Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix Break Up After He Reportedly Cheated With Raquel Leviss, Sex/Life Season 2: Adam Demos Tops His Famous Full Frontal Moment With, Uh, Tip, New Movies on Streaming: 'Magic Mike's Last Dance' + More, 'Next In Fashion' Season 2 on Netflix: Follow the Designers on Instagram, 'Wheel of Fortune' Gets Awkward as Pat Sajak Snaps at Contestant for Grabbing Wheel: "Don't Touch That", Is 'Yellowstone' On Tonight? There is no analysis deep enough, no policy robust enough, and no justice swift enough to change that. tells a grand jury is crucial. For audiences that experience this and are finally being believed because of social media, cellphone cameras, body cameras, empirical studies from people like the Marshall Project, books like The New Jim Crow it's like, "OK, finally, now we believe you." For ten years Ford was privileged to work as Series Producer for the PBS showcase POV and where his curatorial work helped garner more than 16 Emmy nominations. 2023 Cond Nast. "Strong Island" tells the story of the murder of 24-year-old Ford, a black teacher killed by a white 19-year-old mechanic named Mark Reilly in Long Island in 1992. In Strong Island, Bringing a Murdered Brother Back to Life By Julia Felsenthal September 15, 2017 In 1992, an unarmed 24-year-old Long Island man named William Ford, Jr., was shot and. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. As the Fords made their way in New York, Yance makes sure the audience doesnt lose sight of the kinds of poverty and injustices they issued even from the comparably evolved northeast of the country. Angry words were exchanged until Super Stang employee Mark Reilly, a 19-year-old white man, went into the garage and out of sight. All rights reserved. Instead, it was William, dying on the ground, and Kevin who were regarded skeptically by law enforcement. Reilly had dying day that the grand jury of twenty-three white people did not , is the director of the new Netflix documentary "Strong Island," which examines not just the murder but its aftermath including the failure of the criminal justice system and its effects on Ford's family.. Yance Ford was a 19-year-old art student when his brother was killed.