American Violet

[DdC]

American Violet
pete@drugwarrant.com April 10, 2009
A very important film is opening on April 17
(in select theatres, as they say).

American Violet (official film site) is based on the true story of one of those horribly destructive and racist drug war situations involving a snitch and the arrests of dozens of African-Americans in Hearne, Texas who often had no recourse but to plead guilty, even when they were innocent. One young black single mother had the courage to maintain her innocence and finally won, bringing to light the corruption involved in the drug war.

The movie has a top-notch cast (including Alfre Woodard, Charles Dutton, and Will Patton).

Spread the word and support the film if you can.

Rex Reed reviews American Violet
pete@drugwarrant.com April 15, 2009

In the New York Observer

It's rare, I'll admit, but occasionally a good movie raises its head through the muck and mire and leaves me grateful but shocked with disbelief. Such a movie is American Violet, a harrowing, compelling and profoundly true story that dares to tackle an important but too rarely exposed issue of the abuse of power in the American criminal justice system. [...]

It's hard to believe this kind of discrimination and racial profiling exists today, even in Texas. But American Violet is an eye-opener on several levels. It shows why American prisons are overflowing with more than two million convicts, 90 percent of whom accepted plea bargains, in a country with 13 million convicted felons on the outside of prison walls who cannot vote, apply for passports to leave or enjoy the benefits of Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps and housing subsidies. It is also an indictment of the hypocrisy of backwoods "law" that sanctions all-black arrests in hamlets ruled by all-white cops, scowling court-appointed lawyers and crooked judges. [...]

At a time when almost every movie I see is about nothing at all, American Violet rattles a few cages with its story of personal courage against overwhelming odds. Sensational, nerve-racking stuff that leaves you shattered while it teaches you something.

Maybe this will help it get in more theaters.

American Violet U2b

Thank You Miss Rosa
Of the 43 people arrested, 40 were Black--amounting to 12 percent of Tulia's Black population. Almost every Black person in town had a relative or friend on the indictment list.