By Shamya Hill |<\/p>\n
In an industry that produces movies about vampires, werewolves, wizards, aliens riding bikes over the moon, and monsters, I think it is safe to say that art doesn\u2019t imitate life except when it does. When movies depict black women as angry and weak or when black men are depicted as thugs and gangsters, it makes me question if art imitates life. There are endless possibilities to art; however, why aren\u2019t African Americans safe in art?<\/p>\n
Netflix\u2019s new movie \u201cTwo Distant Strangers\u201d reveals a young black man trying to get home to his dog but is stuck in a time loop in which the result is always the same. He gets shot by a white police officer. As the movie goes on, he tries multiple strategies to avoid his inevitable fate, including following the cop\u2019s instructions and attempting to engage him in conversation. Yet, no matter what he tries, he is still killed.<\/p>\n
In the wake of George Floyd, Eric Garner, Amadou Diallo, Oscar Grant, and a never-ending list of multiple innocent black lives taken away too soon by white police officers, I always hear the same thing over and over, \u201cWell, maybe if they listened to the cops and followed instructions, then the outcome wouldn\u2019t be the same.\u201d The issue isn\u2019t black and white. There are gray areas that we still don\u2019t understand. In the movie, the ending scene focuses on the black male and white officer. They are having a conversation as the officer drives the young man home to his dog, and before he can touch the doorknob, the officer kills him and says, \u201cSee you tomorrow.\u201d This movie caused me to feel a roller coaster of emotions but left me thinking about how the black male\u2019s fate is already determined in both life and death.<\/p>\n