Families of those killed by police speak in Memphis
LaToya Howell wasn’t sure she’d make it through the entire film.
The documentary “Stranger Fruit,” about the 2014 death of Ferguson, Missouri, teen Michael Brown at the hands of a police officer, reminded her too much of the death of her own son, Justus Howell, who was also killed by police.
But sometime in the middle of the screening of the movie at the Hattiloo Theater in Memphis on Saturday, Howell turned to her left.
There was Michael Brown Sr., the father of Michael Brown, sitting watching the same movie. He made it through, so she would, too.
“There’s a piece of me that’s gone forever,” Howell said.
The screening of the movie by documentary filmmaker Jason Pollock united three families whose loved ones died following high-profile encounters with police.
Along with Brown and Howell, the aunt of Alton Sterling, a 37-year-old black man killed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was in attendance.
“These families help me heal,” Brown said.
It was the first event put on by a new organization, BLIND, led by Memphian Jennifer Cain.
“I want Memphis to realize and wake up,” Cain said, citing the racism black people face in their daily lives.
A panel featuring members of each family followed the screening. They brought up the Sept. 6 death of a black man in Dallas who was killed after a white police officer entered his apartment, reportedly mistaking it for her own, and shot him.
“Black people have been talking about this forever,” said Andre E. Johnson, an assistant professor at the University of Memphis.
The panelists each talked about the life-changing emotional pain that comes with losing a child or a grandchild.
“Every day is still different,” Brown said. “I miss him a lot.”
Brown said he blames himself, in a way, for not being there with his son, a sentiment he expressed in the film.
“Every parent that loses a child blames themselves,” he said.
He’s working on “1 percent of forgiveness.” “I’ve got 99 percent to go,” he said. What helps, he said, is focusing on his other children, who still need love, despite their father’s grief and mission to tell his son’s story.
Howell said it can take her weeks to recover after an event like Saturday’s, where she has to relive the 2015 loss of her 17-year-old son and bare her heart to a crowd of strangers.
Alice Howell, the teen’s grandmother, said speaking out gives her a purpose, a way to avoid shutting herself away.
“Turning pain into purpose, that’s what gives us life,” she said.
But there’s “no coming back,” she noted.
“It’s a life-changing experience,” she said. “Something you will never recover from.”
Reach Jennifer Pignolet at jennifer.pignolet@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @JenPignolet.