When They See Us is a must see. Ava DuVernay deserves an Academy Award for this production and I hope she gets it. As brilliantly as it was done, it was extremely hard to watch. The reinforcement of how the lives of innocent black men and women, and the lives of our families continue to be destroyed by White America, white racism and systemic anti-
black racism.
The trauma that they themselves had to endure, that their mothers and fathers had to endure is irreparable. The experience itself was reprehensible and for me personally watching it exhausted me. I could feel the pain of the families. That was my family. I could feel and sense the pain of their mothers. That was my mother.
We as black people must own the presence of perpetual white antiblack racism. It is no different than the hatred, contempt, apathy, condescension and antipathy that our parents, grandparents, great grandparents, and great-great grandparents (who most likely were enslaved) experienced. The dynamic is the same.
We must continue to educate ourselves and our children about the ills of this country and of this system; that was established to oppress all black people, and most of us in a very severe manner.
My heart continues to go out to the men (as they were young boys) who were taken advantage of by white "authorities" who cared nothing about black life and as a result their lives were forever destroyed. As I watched interviews of them coming back together, it was/is evident to me that Korey Wise has PTSD in a very severe manner. How is dignity ever restored? How is sanity ever restored? There is not enough money or assets in the world that can ever restore these invaluable qualities.
My hope is that as many people as possible are able to watch the full series. It is a life changing phenomenon! Thank you Ava DuVernay!