Entertainment

Film Review: ‘3 1/2 Minutes, Ten Bullets’

Published

11 years ago

June 16, 2015

Oakland Post

Ron Davis and Lucia McBath, parents of Jordan Davis, at rally.

By Dwight Brown
NNPA Film Critic

Jordan Davis was born Feb 16, 1995. Contrary to his belief, he was not named after the basketball legend Michael Jordan. His mom, Lucia McBath, insists she named him after the crossing over of the Jordan River, symbolizing a new beginning.

For his mom and dad, Ron Davis, Jordan was their new beginning. Their lives were changed forever November 23, 2012, the day after Thanksgiving, when shots were fired at a gas station in Jacksonville, Florida.

Ten bullets hit a car full of teenage boys. When the violence is over, 17-year-old Jordan Davis, an African-American, has been killed by Michael David Dunn, a middle-aged White software developer in town for a wedding. The boys had been playing loud rap music; Dunn requested that they turn it down. They did for an instant, and then they turned it back up. What happened next depends on whom you talk to.

The 1950 film Rashomon, directed by the legendary Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, depicts the accounts of the witnesses, suspects, and victims of a rape and murder. All have different viewpoints, recollections and interpretations of the same encounter. “Rashomon effect” is a term that means contradictory interpretations of the same event by different people. It’s a dynamic that pervades just about every trial, where suspects and victims recount the same experience, differently. That’s what’s on view in this so-called “loud music” trial; the surviving boys have a different recollection than Dunn.

Producer Minette Wilson initiated this project, and collaborated with documentary director/cinematographer Marc Silver (Global Protest, Who is Dayani Cristal?) and executive producer Orlando Bagwell (Eyes on the Prize). They received open access to the parents of the victim, his friends and the trial. The viewer sits around the dinner table with now divorced Lucia McBath and Ron Davis, is invited to prayer circles, hears anecdotes about Jordan from his pals (he was a mediocre basketball player, but quick on his feet) and gets to know the brassy suburban kid who was killed.

What the documentary doesn’t do is get inside the head of Michael Dunn. We don’t find out how Dunn became the adult who dared to ask a carful of teens to turn their loud music down. Nor why on a Friday night while stopping to pick up wine and chips at a convenience store, he was carrying a gun in his glove compartment. Nor what he ever expected to do with a loaded firearm. Without these details, this documentary sheds light on only one side of the tragedy.

The film calls into question stand-your-ground laws that have been drafted in many states making self-defense with a gun when a “threat” is perceived, legal. Echoes of the Trayvon Martin case are in this documentary. In fact Trayvon Martin’s dad calls Jordan’s dad and says, “I want to welcome you to a club that none of us want to be in.”

Though the film focuses on this crime in particular, it also brings into view a pattern of young Black men being devalued and murdered, which spurs many to think that this country has a chronic social/racial problem that has to be solved.

The gut-wrenching subject of the film carries the movie. Security footage from the convenience store re-plays the dramatic pop, pop, pop sounds of the gunfire. The court proceedings are riveting. Arguments for stand-your-ground and against it cause debate. Semi-private conversations between Dunn and his girlfriend are as intriguing as the conversations between Jordan’s parents. Both couples are common people who have been thrust into a media spotlight by an incident that none could have fathomed when they woke up that Friday after Thanksgiving.

What the documentary the filmmakers have assembled is educational, eye opening, often emotional, sad and galvanizing. As the 98 minutes of footage roll by, it becomes apparent that Jordan’s tragedy is a chapter within a much longer book. It is also clear that stand-your-ground laws are on trial as much as Michael Dunn was. Notes Judge Russell L. Healey, who presided over the case; “There is nothing wrong with retreating or de-escalating a situation.”

Visit NNPA Film Critic Dwight Brown at DwightBrownInk.com.

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Oakland Post: Week of February 11 = 17, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – February 11 – 17, 2026

Published

2 days ago

February 16, 2026

Oakland Post

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Arts and Culture

Book Review: Books on Black History and Black Life for Kids

For the youngest reader, “As You Are: A Hope for Black Sons” by Kimberly A. Gordon Biddle, illustrated by David Wilkerson (Magination Press, $18.99) is a book for young Black boys and for their mothers. It’s a hope inside a prayer that the world treats a child gently, and it could make a great baby shower gift.

Published

1 week ago

February 10, 2026

Oakland Post

Photo of Black History Month book covers by Terri Schlichenmeyer.

By Terri Schlichenmeyer

Authors: Various, Copyright: c. 2025, 2026, Publishers: Various, SRPs: $17.99-$18.99, Page Counts: Various,

Everybody in your family has stories to share.

Your parents have told you some, no doubt. Your grandparents have offered a few, too, and aunties and uncles have spun some good tales. But there’s so much more to know, so grab one of these great books and learn about Black History and Black life.

For the youngest reader, “As You Are: A Hope for Black Sons” by Kimberly A. Gordon Biddle, illustrated by David Wilkerson (Magination Press, $18.99) is a book for young Black boys and for their mothers. It’s a hope inside a prayer that the world treats a child gently, and it could make a great baby shower gift.

If someone said you couldn’t do something that you were clearly able to do, would you fight to do it anyhow? In the new book, “Remember Her Name! Debbie Allen’s Rise to Fame” by Tami Charles, illustrated by Meredith Lucius (Charlesbridge, $17.99), a young girl in the Jim Crow South is told that she can’t dance because of the color of her skin.

She didn’t listen, though, and neither did her mother, who took her daughter to Mexico, where the girl soared! This is an inspiration for any 5-to-7-year-old; be sure to check out the back-of-the-book information, if you’re an adult fan.

Do you often hear your elders say things that sound like lessons? They might be, so “Where There is Love: A Story of African Proverbs” by Shauntay Grant, illustrated by Leticia Moreno (Penguin Workshop, $18.99) is a book you’ll like. It’s a quick-to-read collection of short proverbs that you can say every day. Kids ages 4-to-6 will easily remember what they find in this book; again, look in the back for more information.

Surely, you love your neighborhood, which is why the tale inside “Main Street: A Community Story about Redlining” by Britt Hawthorne and Tiffany Jewell, illustrated by David Wilkerson (Penguin Kokila, $18.99) is a book for you.

Olivia’s neighborhood is having a block party, but she’s sad when no one shows up. That’s when she learns that “the government” is discriminating against the people and businesses near where she lives. So, what can she and her neighbors do? The answer might inspire 6-to-8-year-old kids to stand up to wrongs they see, and to help make their neighborhoods stronger and safer.

And finally, if a kid wants a book, where can they go to find it? In “I’m So Happy You’re Here: A Celebration of Library Joy” by Mychal Threets, illustrated by Lorraine Nam (Random House, $18.99) is a good introduction to the best of what a library has to offer. The freedom to walk into a library and borrow a book is the theme here, as is the sheer happiness of being welcomed, no matter who you are. This is an easy book for kids as young as two and as old as five to enjoy.

On that note, if you want more, head to that library, or a nearby bookstore. They’ll be glad to see you. They’ve got stories to share.

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Art of the African Diaspora Celebrates Legacy and Community at Richmond Art Center

Published

1 week ago

February 9, 2026

Oakland Post

‘Be Still...’ by Virginia Jourdan is on display at the Richmond Art Center (RAC), in Richmond, CA. Photo by Carla Thomas.

By Carla Thomas

The 2026 Art of the African Diaspora exhibition is on display at the Richmond Art Center (RAC) through March 14. The one-room gallery bursts with more than 100 works – paintings, photographs, sculptures, and mixed-media pieces – each affirming the power, beauty, and vitality of cultural expression across the African diaspora.

Now in its 29th year, Art of the African Diaspora is the Bay Area’s longest-running exhibition of its kind. Its roots stretch back to 1989, when artist and educator Marie Johnson Calloway founded Colors of Black, a salon for African American artists. That gathering inspired artists Jan Hart-Schuyers and Rae Louise Hayward to establish The Art of Living Black at the Richmond Art Center in 1996. Their vision was to showcase the creativity of emerging and established Black artists, bridging communities and widening access to audiences historically excluded from mainstream art spaces.

Over the decades, that founding vision has expanded and evolved, carried forward by artists, family members, and the Richmond Art Center after the loss of Hart-Schuyers and Hayward. In 2018, a new generation of artists formed a steering committee to organize the event; a year later, the exhibition was renamed Art of the African Diaspora to embrace the broader global connections of people of African descent.

The new name reflects not only a broader cultural lens but also an empowered community network that supports artists across the Bay Area. As part of this year’s programming, RAC will host ‘Art of the African Diaspora: Public Art in Our Communities,’ a free panel on Sat., Feb. 21, from 12 to 1:30 p.m. Artists Kristine Mays, James Moore, and Malik Seneferu will join arts administrator Denise Pate for a conversation on the impact and process of public art. The discussion will be moderated by longtime arts advocate and producer Flo Wiley.

Each panelist brings a distinctive voice to the conversation. Mays, known for her ethereal wire sculptures that capture movement and spirit, has exhibited internationally and is represented in collections ranging from the Smithsonian to the Crocker Art Museum.

Sculptor and painter James Moore creates abstract metal works and colorful field paintings that explore movement, balance, and emotion. His recent public art installations include large-scale pieces in Richmond’s Shields-Reid Park. Malik Seneferu, a self-taught San Francisco native, has built a large body of work celebrating African American life through vibrant murals and expressive figurative art.

Representing the institutional side, Denise Pate oversees public arts investments as director of Community Investments at the San Francisco Arts Commission, advancing racial and cultural equity through funding and advocacy. Together, these artists and administrators will trace how public art emerges, from concept to community collaboration, and why it matters.

The Art of the African Diaspora exhibition runs through March 14 at the Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Ave., Richmond. The center is open Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission and programs are free and open to the public.