"Strong Island": Trans Filmmaker Yance Ford Searches for Justice After His Brother's Racist Murder
by mail@democracynow.org (Democracy Now!) from Democracy Now! on (#3E5AK)
We speak with Yance Ford, who on Tuesday became the first trans director to be nominated for an Academy Award. His film "Strong Island" is up for best documentary. Ford, who is African-American, chronicles what happened to his own family after his brother, William Ford Jr., was shot dead by a white mechanic in Long Island, New York, in 1992. The killer was questioned by police but never charged. "My brother's case, 25 years ago, simply affirms what we are seeing now," Ford says. "It doesn't matter if you follow the rules. The justice system isn't meant to work for people of color in this country." We also speak with producer, Joslyn Barnes, co-founder of Louverture Films.