#ryan has many human friends but he makes animal friends easiest

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When They See Us (Netflix) - Miniseries Reflection

To be honest… I have no idea how to start this post.

A few weeks ago I watched Ava Duvernay’s interview on the Breakfast Club about this miniseries and how she came about taking on the challenge of telling this unbelievably difficult story. Our community is affected by these tragedies all too often and it makes it hard to want to have children that will have to grow up in a society that will never see them as children. Ultimately, I just want to put a thank you out there to Ava Duvernay for checking her DMs and responding to that message she got from one of the victims of this ridiculous justice system and running with the opportunity to shed light on this horrible part of their history.

“When They See Us” is the true account of what happened to Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana Jr., Kevin Richardson, and Korey Wise in 1989 when they were falsely accused, charged, and convicted of the tragic beating and rape of Trisha Meili, a white woman. This four-part miniseries walks us through the eyes of the boys from the night they were in Central Park until the day they are exonerated of all charges and released back into the world. Part 1 exposes the unjust tactics and tools used to interrogate and trap these boys in lies of committing a crime that they had no idea existed. Part 2 walks us through the trials of all 5 boys and how the justice system brings no justice to black people no matter how blatantly untrue a story being told against them can be. Part 3 shows us a snippet of what Antron, Yusef, Kevin, and Raymond endure during and after their release from prison; trying to integrate into a world that refuses to accept them because of these false allegations. Finally, part 4… we see the tragic circumstances and situations Korey Wise experienced for 14 years being moved from prison to prison trying to survive with a target on his back that NEVER SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE.

As a black woman I can never understand the tragedy of having that type of target on my back to the degree our men must live with it, but I can be angry for what they are doing to our men. This story is known… there are no spoilers to give or disclaimers to provide. If you don’t want to know my opinions on certain parts of this because you feel it may ruin the watch for you I understand, but please watch because this story NEEDED to be told. I don’t want this to be considered a review but more of a reflection because no matter the scale this affects us all, including myself. If you feel it’s “too hard” to watch or don’t know if you can “handle it,” they don’t deserve to have their story out there for you to not watch. Take your time, but watch… no excuses.

There were so many parts that hurt to watch and I’m often told I’m heartless because of my inability to cry at emotionally tear provoking movies or tv shows, but this broke me. I made it through the first 3 parts with anger and frustration but no tears, taking breaks and pauses in between watching. It’s going to take anywhere between 1-3 days to work through the series; approximately 5 hours altogether. For some, it may take longer. That’s how real it gets.

Watching Korey’s story hit me the hardest; that was what finally made the tears fall. The depiction of his truth and struggle was the hardest to witness yet the easiest to relate to. Not many of can say we’ve been directly arrested and blamed for a crime we’ve had nothing to do with, but anybody can relate to the fear of being in the wrong place at the wrong time and having something like that happen. Korey Wise went to the police precinct to support his friend, Yusef, and was left there. Not too long after being left he was used as a scapegoat to make this absurd story make sense to any other white person that would listen. Considering these boys were already being treated as animals it’s hard to believe the scenario could get any worse but lets add in the fact that he’s sent directly to prison, not a juvenile detention center, and beaten countless times by grown men that are actual rapists, murderers, felons, and so much more. Korey’s story is going to hit the hardest… just be prepared.

Watch this with your kids, your younger siblings, your older siblings, mentees, whomever you hold dear to you because this is real, and EVERYBODY in America needs to see what really happens to our boys. This isn’t something that you can turn away from and pretend as though it’s not happening everyday from police shootings to racial profiling. We wouldn’t change our skin even if we could, but America does need to change it’s privilege…

These boys were interrogated for hours without their parents. Parents were suckered and punked into handing over their kids to the system. This outrageous individual that is often referred to as the President of the United States, current day, was on news channels, taking out ads to have the death penalty imposed on these children that didn’t even know what truant or rape meant. Let’s be realistic… who in their right mind believes any BLACK MAN would willingly admit to raping a white women if they knew exactly what that meant? No man… and you think these five 14-16 year old black and brown BOYS understood what they were admitting to, alone with no parental guidance? Sitting in a precinct hungry and wanting to go home?

One question here… when has a rape EVER been THIS important to police? Rape gets overlooked, forgotten, disregarded, and ignored more often than it should even now with more resources than were available in 1989. Don’t be fooled… had that woman in the park been black and the supposed assailant a white male, there wouldn’t have been this much traction to find the attacker, let alone to create 5 attackers out of a crime scene that clearly only had evidence of their being one. This was a clear racial attack targeted at minorities that couldn’t protect themselves… more specifically blacks in America that have ALWAYS been discounted and created into animals that couldn’t possibly be human beings.

Linda Fairstein was disgusting, right along with Elizabeth Lederer, Robert Morgenthau, all of the cops that were gathering up boys, and the detectives in the precinct that coerced false confessions out of 14 year olds. Disgusting doesn’t even give justice to the horrific things these five went through, and the worst part is the shock value is gone. We’re not surprised at how the justice system fails and frames our people, it’s what we expect and that’s disheartening. You may watch and wonder how can we protect our children against a system that’s centered around seeing them fail, and I don’t have the answer to that. Knowledge is power, however. This takes me back to “The Hate U Give” and how Starr’s father teaches his children the hard realities of dealing with law enforcement and being black. Give your kids as much knowledge as possible to protect themselves; tell them don’t say anything without having you present, don’t resist or struggle unnecessarily, and don’t admit to anything especially something they haven’t done or don’t have any knowledge of.

Points that struck a nerve and hit me the hardest while watching:

Nancy Ryan should have pushed harder to take the case or have somebody else work the case because Linda Fairstein had a personal vendetta she was trying to resolve. I don’t know if she was a victim of rape or knows somebody closely who was and that made her act the way she did, but somebody needed to put her on a leash. I truly believe Nancy Ryan should have been that person, but I am happy she was the one that handled the confession from the real attacker in 2003. I understand the attempt to try and set Linda straight after everything, but babygirl waited a little too long to try to check somebody that flew off the deep end 4 years prior.

The black cop that tried to keep the detectives from interrogating Kevin after his mother left not feeling well… sir you could have pushed harder. I understand the remorse you probably felt by stepping back and watching that happen, but I’m sure there’s plenty of things you could have said to somebody or done to address the fact that they knowingly interrogated him ignoring the fact that his mother was sick and was coming back after getting her medication.

The audacity to connect Kevin’s eye being swollen and scratched to the struggle the rape victim put up when in reality he had a black eye from being smacked in the head by a cop with a helmet while they were tackling and herding black boys up like they were cattle… and this is NEVER addressed during the trial.

Antron’s father, Bobby, disgusts me. This man knew how the system worked because he had been locked up, but instead of protecting his son he forced his son to admit to being involved with raping that woman to keep his job and lifestyle up. I understand he’s passed on and God rest is soul where he is, but that struck a serious nerve with me. Protect your children at all costs, because nobody else will.

Yusef’s mom, Sharon, was a lot for me. I understand she was trying to protect her son, but this entire situation was bigger than just her and Yusef, especially when Korey ended up in this trying to look out for her son. No disrespect to any mothers out there because I definitely understand wanting to protect your baby, but they were all babies and they all needed protecting.

Ray’s step mother needs something… a beat down is what comes to mind, but I’m a lover not a fighter.

And just overall, the evidence that was missing, the stories that didn’t match up, the DNA sample that matched NONE of the boys, but some how they were still convicted.

There were so many other moments other than just that that even make writing this and reflecting on it almost as hard as it was watching it.

There has been a lot of buzz around this miniseries and for good reason. Ava Duvernay took her time on sculpting this and telling their tragic story in a beautiful manner. The actors portraying every person involved did such an amazing job and I can’t even begin to imagine how it must have been stepping into the shoes of anybody in this plot line; especially one of the five men that stepped up to tell their story in hopes that it would be heard and they would be recognized. All five men are hard working and it appears they are thriving despite the tragedies they endured to get to where they are present day. Again, I charge anybody that has decided this is too much to watch to reconsider. It may be hard to watch, but this is our history as black people and these men deserve to be supported by our community no matter how painful it may be to witness. The hardest part was going through it and they handled that part long ago, now, we should stand behind them and their efforts to stop this from happening to anymore of our children.

I recently saw a video from Clint Coley with him in a rap battle against some white cops and one line stood out to me… “You can’t say all lives matter, cause the black ones don’t.” Nobody should be able to watch this and continue to think our justice system is fair and protects all citizens. The thing white people will never be able to relate to is the fear that they may get that call one day about their son and they won’t be able to do anything about it. White boys are coddled and treated as though there’s every cure in the book for anything wrong they do, but black boys are thrown into jails and treated as adults with no comfort, support, or benefit of doubt. All lives can’t matter when that’s the reality of the world we live in.

So, do your community a favor… do your future sons and daughters a favor… do yourself a favor and watch “When They See Us.” It will make you mad, it will make you afraid, it will make you cry, but it will throw more fuel to the fire inside you that should be anxious to make a change for the generations coming after us. They will watch what you did and move accordingly. They will appreciate how you supported our community and follow your lead. They will be stronger for it, because that’s what you’ll teach them to be.

Be D.O.P.E. Support our men.

Release Date: May 31, 2019 Where I watched: Netflix