Filmmaker Yance Ford’s film Strong Island is a must-watch on Netflix. The documentary tells the story of the Ford family and how their lives were forever altered by the shooting death of Yance’s older brother, William, in 1992. He was killed by a white man in the Long Island, N.Y., hamlet of Central Islip, where Yance’s parents had moved to raise a family. Stunningly, the case never went to trial after being reviewed by a grand jury.
The director, who is an honoree of The Root 100 this year, stopped by our office to discuss this unfortunate trend among black families in this country, why we should be allowed to grieve and not be so quick to forgive, and why this is not an investigation story but more about the tragic after-effects of injustice on families.