Oscar comes to a turning point in which he throws away his stash of drugs which symbolizes him letting go of a lifestyle that imprisoned him for many years. In the text “Freedom on My Mind” racial profiling is defined as “Using race, rather than specific evidence, to determine how a person should be treated.”(Martin, Bay, and White) It is also noted in the text that “An inordinate number of African Americans are imprisoned for minor offenses because they are more likely than whites to be arrested.” “In the United States, Black men are six times as likely to go to jail or prison as white men.” (Smiley and Fakunle 6) This is largely due to the tendency for law enforcement to racially profile black individuals. While dealing drugs comes with high risk to all that choose to participate and black people do not participate in this at a higher rate than their counterparts, there is an alarmingly disproportionate amount of black males incarcerated for dealing substances such as marijuana than there are white males. Oftentimes, finding jobs with a stable income and employment benefits can be difficult and many turn to illegal activity due to its highly lucrative and fast-paced nature. This situation is very common among many low-income communities. Although Oscar acknowledges the fact that dealing illegal drugs is undoubtedly a risky form of income, he feels as though his hand is forced due to his recent termination from his job at a grocery store.
At the beginning of the film, Sophina pleads Oscar to stop dealing marijuana. Oscar Grant is portrayed as a family man living in a low-income neighborhood and displays his daily efforts to remove his family from poverty. This theme is demonstrated in a beautifully complex manner throughout the entirety of this film.
One being the criminalization and vilification of black men. This film highlights many injustices that black communities face in the modern era. The officer who killed Grant was charged with involuntary manslaughter and served a mere 11 months in jail, claiming he mistook his gun for his taser.
#FRUITVALE STATION DVD SERIES#
The significance of this true story lies in the aftermath of his death which sparked a series of protests and riots against the injustice of police brutality. “Fruitvale Station” describes Grant’s life and the events leading up to his death. He left behind his girlfriend Sophina and four-year-old daughter Tatiana. Grant was a young man from Hayward, California who was fatally shot on New Year’s Eve after an altercation with a BART transit police officer in 2009. The film “Fruitvale Station,” directed and written by Ryan Coogler is a story based on the death of Oscar Grant. But it would be his final encounter of the day, with police officers at the Fruitvale BART station that would shake the Bay Area to its very core, and cause the entire nation to be witnesses to the story of Oscar Grant.Fruitvale Station: A Story of Police Brutality and Institutionalized Racism He crosses paths with friends, family, and strangers, each exchange showing us that there is much more to Oscar than meets the eye. He starts out well, but as the day goes on, he realizes that change is not going to come easy. Not sure what it is, he takes it as a sign to get a head start on his resolutions: being a better son to his mother, whose birthday falls on New Year's Eve, being a better partner to his girlfriend, who he hasn't been completely honest with as of late, and being a better father to T, their beautiful four-year-old daughter. Jordan), a 22-year-old Bay Area resident who wakes up on the morning of Decemand feels something in the air. New Year's Eve Synopsis This is the true story of Oscar Grant (Michael B. Forest Whitaker's Significant Productions, OG Project, The Weinstein Company Genre Drama | Independent Film (US).
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