Media Recommendations
Judas and The Black Messiah
by Shaka King
This movie follows Fred Hampton, the Chairman of the Chicago Black Panther Party, up to the time of his assassination. Police recruited a Black man to spy on the Black Panthers. The movie really puts the relationship between law enforcement and the Black community in perspective. A lot of people don’t understand how violent police were at that time and this movie does a great job showing the lengths they went to subjugating Black folks.
Sarah , age 18
Black Panther
8+
Black Panther is truly my favorite comfort Marvel movie, it has such a talented and cool cast of Black actors, and you can break it apart as deep (observing the multiple highlighted African cultures, or the implied metaphor of MLK Jr. vs. Malcom X), or as surface level as wanted, making it the perfect watch but an even better rewatch.
Lara, age 17
Blindspotting
R (for language)
Blindspotting was co-written by Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal about two friends, one black named Collin the other one white named Myles. They are both movers and Collin needs to serve three days of probation, but on one of the days he witnesses a black man get murdered by a police officer, and this along with rapidly gentrifying Oakland begins to put a wedge in Collin and Myles' friendship. Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal called it 'a buddy comedy in a world that won't let it be one,' and I thought this was very fitting and found the movie itself really inspiring. I think this tragi-comedy covers some very important topics like how messed up the criminal justice systems are, gentrification, and many other things. But it is rated R for language and there's one scene where somebody gets beaten up. Another interesting thing about Blindspotting is how seamlessly it blends spoken word and regular speech and how it uses heightened language in moments of tension. This movie was really important for me to see to learn just how messed up, but also beautiful our world can be. And I recommend it as a must see because it changed my life, and really opened my eyes.
Katie L. , age 19
The Hate You Give
Book by Angie Thomas
This movie was very eye-opening and emotional for me as a white teenager who was navigating the same coming-of-age world that Black teenagers (in the movie) were, but additionally having to simultaneously confront the struggles and adversity of Black life in America. I loved it!