Chauvin verdict weighs heavily on Oscars broadcast
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[April 26, 2021]
By Daniel Trotta
(Reuters) - Following one of the most
consequential court cases in recent U.S. history, Hollywood wasted no
time in reflecting on the state of race relations and police use of
force in Sunday's Academy Awards show.
The theme was revisited several more times, injecting politics into a
broadcast seen around the world.
"I have to be honest, if things had gone differently this past week in
Minneapolis, I might have traded in my heels for marching boots," Regina
King, the presenter who opened the show, said at the start of the
broadcast.
She was referring to the conviction on Tuesday of former Minneapolis
police officer Derek Chauvin, found guilty by a jury of all three
charges in the death of George Floyd: second-degree murder, third-degree
murder and manslaughter.
The case has rocked the United States ever since cellphone video of the
incident on May 25, 2020, went viral. The video showed Chauvin, a white
veteran of the police force, pushing his knee into the neck of Floyd, a
46-year-old Black man in handcuffs, for more than nine minutes.
"As a mother of a black son, I know the fear that so many live with, and
no amount of fame or fortune changes that," said King, who directed "One
Night in Miami," a film set in 1964 and dealing with the civil rights
issues of that time.
Actress and deaf activist Marlee Matlin, in introducing the documentary
awards, mentioned Darnella Frazier, the young woman who shot the
cellphone video of Floyd's death, which led to months of protests across
the United States and beyond.
"Their impact can be extraordinary. Whether it's a full length feature
film or a cell phone video taken by a young woman in Minneapolis by the
name of Darnella Frazier that became a catalyst for change," Matlin said
in sign language that was spoken by an interpreter.
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An Oscar statue design on a red carpet backdrop is pictured at Union
Station, one of the locations for the 93rd Academy Awards in Los
Angeles, California, U.S. April 24, 2021. Chris Pizzello/Pool via
REUTERS
Travon Free, a co-winner of the Oscar for live-action
short, leveraged his big moment to address police use of force. His
winning film, "Two Distant Strangers," is about a man stuck in a
time loop that forced him to relive a deadly run-in with a police
officer.
"Today, the police will kill three people, and tomorrow the police
will kill three people, and the day after that police will kill
three people, because on average the police in America everyday kill
three people," said Free, who shared the award with Martin Desmond
Roe.
Free went on to quote the late writer James Baldwin that it was
"despicable" to be indifferent to other people's pain.
"And so I just ask that you please not be indifferent. Please don't
be indifferent to our pain," said Free, who while on the red carpet
before the show opened his jacket to show it lined with the names of
people killed by police.
Actor and filmmaker Tyler Perry spoke against hate during his
acceptance of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, recounting the
impact that major civil rights cases of the past had on his mother
in the heavily segregated South.
"My mother taught me to refuse hate," Perry said.
He listed those he refused to hate, such as people of color and
LGBTQ people, but he also extended a hand to police.
"I refuse to hate someone because they are a police officer," Perry
said.
(Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Howard Goller)
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