Reilly had schools, because, in reality, the public schools werent good enough, Although Ford was unarmed, he . A Yanceville Films and Louverture Films production, Strong Island was produced by Ford and Joslyn Barnes and was co-produced by Signe Byrge Srensen for Final Cut for Real. As the documentary At the end of the day, I'm privileged to make documentary films and to have a family that loves me. Mark Reilly, a young white man. her that she was pretty. By signing up, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy & to receive electronic communications from Vice Media Group, which may include marketing promotions, advertisements and sponsored content. . S, Welcome to Love Like This?, a romance column where we, Kathleen Newman-Bremang and Ineye Komonibo, revisit some of the most romantic or not, in hindsig, Whether its the iconic early-aughts film Love Dont Cost a Thing or her 2021 Netflix hit Resort to Love, Christina Milian has solidified herself in th, This story contains spoilers for Netflixs You People. "Mark Reilly already said everything he had to say to me when he shot and killed my brother." Ford titled "Strong Island" after a hip-hop term for the region that was popularized in the . William Ford had no record and was about to take the William Ford, a black man, was shot and killed at the age of 24 by a 19-year-old mechanic named Mark Reilly, at the auto shop where Ford's girlfriend's car was being repaired. Detectives seemed only interested in asking the friend how much he It is heartbreaking to hear Fords mother reproach herself Watch Strong Island (2017) online. Strong Island investigates the killing of Ford's brother, William, in 1992 in Central Islip, NY. mothers ability to do anything, Yance Ford says, and the children were We always tried to teach you guys that you see character, not color. What happened on that drive became part of literary history. 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William Ford, a black man, was shot and killed at the age of 24 by a 19-year-old mechanic named Mark Reilly, at the auto shop where Ford's girlfriend's car was being repaired. after 9/11, to protect his new country. His murderer was escorted from the crime scene without handcuffs and never prosecuted. He was killed right outside of his home, and his mother has to look at the spot where her son died every time she sits on her front porch. gangsta rap of that time, 1992, the year of William Ford, Jr.,s death. The ruin that Williams death has caused is written all over Yances face, which is a map of regret, frustration, and impotent rage. Have we accepted fear as a rationale for homicide when it's actually supposed to be reasonable fear? He was the kind of man who kept a journal about his goals, who wrote poetry, who had angst about his future. Not the white-hot rage that explodes off the screen or even the crusading anger that can sometimes galvanize groups of people. You know what it means to live a life where you have to map the airports that have family bathrooms so you can go into a restroom and not feel either endangered because people can be violent if they think that you're a short gay manor if women in the ladies room think that you're a man in the women's room and call the cops? Its an incredibly effective and affecting technique that foregrounds the films raw honesty, openness, and vulnerability; the camera is both a confrontation between Ford and his viewers and a mirror for Fords own confessional introspections. the auto mechanic had had no reason to be fearful during either of his Movie:Strong Island He keeps the camera closely trained on the faces of those whove suffered emotional wounds that wont heal, and who live with regrets that are devastating. For white audiences, answering how you measure the distance of fear requires that they look at their own fear. This is interwoven with the history of Fords family told through photographs, detailing roots in the Jim Crow South and his parents courtship and the eventual pursuit and dissolution of the American dream in the red-lined Long Island neighborhood wherein Ford grew up and William was murdered. It was like all the sound had left the world., It calls to mind a line in Men We Reaped, Jesmyn Wards memoir of the violent, premature deaths of five young black men she knew and loved. theyd left behind in black history. Instead, it was William, dying on the ground, and Kevin who were regarded skeptically by law enforcement. If you need social assistance, they're going to drug test you and make you work x amount of hours a week, and it doesn't matter if you don't have childcare. Ad Choices, Actor Graham McTavish Planned a Scottish Castle Wedding for His Bride Garance Dor, 70 Incredible Forgotten Photos From Vintage Oscar Nights, Phil Ohs Best Street Style Photos From the Fall 2023 Shows in Paris. The house had a stillness unlike anything Ive ever felt in my life, Barbara remembers of the aftermath of her sons death. It recounts the murder of Yance Ford's older brother William in 1992. You're going to be punished for wanting to serve as a transgender [person], for wanting to have equal treatment if you're queer, if you want equal pay if you're a woman. William was unarmed. Its my hope that this film will offer some a way to make sense of their own experience, and others a new way of seeing. been shot during a holdup at an A.T.M., and it was William Ford, William Ford, Sr. had hoped to be a draftsman, but in order to take care Rikers Island, says in Strong Island that she will believe until her The Fords left the Jim Crow South in the 1960s but experienced a different type of prejudice and isolation in their new home on Long Island. I did not feel that we were received as parents of a victim, reports Barbara. I just wanted to know all the reasons exactly why. Then: Im not angry. The elderly Jewish women in Brooklyn To revisit this article, select My Account, thenView saved stories, To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories, On April 7, 1992, in Central Islip, a Long Island suburb of New York children to judge people by their character, not by the color of their As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. Dunmore Ford, an educator who founded Rosewood, a school for women on right, and then were destroyed by all the things that they thought In spite of no evidence to suggest that Yance's brother was dangerous, a Grand Jury determined that the homicide was an act of self-defence. Im not surprised that the case didnt go to trial, he says in the first of these self-interviews. It creaks under the weight of the anguish it bears. grade, in South Carolina, to go to work stripping tobacco. return a true bill because her son was a black man. There was also a butch lesbian in Toronto who thanked me afterwards for showing a black family loving their masculine-presenting child, helping to undo this notion that African Americans or people of African descent are the most homophobic people in the galaxy. Netflix just dropped another true crime documentary. Although Ford was unarmed, he became the prime suspect in his own murder. resentment of black anger. The great-grandson of company founder Henry Ford I, Ford joined the board in 1988 and has served as chairman since January 1999. Who married John Ford's daughter? The driver, 19 year old Mark Reilly, had assured William that the car would . Netflix describes Fords film as a deeply intimate and meditative film. In Strong Island, Ford chronicles hisfamilys history from the Jim Crow South to the presumed safety of New Yorks middle-class suburbs, where the 1992murder of the directors brother raised deep issues of race, grief, injustice and gun violence. With the emotional adventure of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever closing out the controversial fourth, Minor spoilers ahead. Vogue may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. It would be an insult to Dunmore Ford died during the making of the documentary, an Jr., who had chased and tackled the gunman. 758, This story has been shared 673 times. of his family he gave up school and became an M.T.A. The latest fashion news, beauty coverage, celebrity style, fashion week updates, culture reviews, and videos on Vogue.com. Ford and Reilly were never alone in the shop; Ford was He also regrets the phone call they shared shortly before his death where William describes an earlier confrontation with Reilly at the garage, which culminated with a thrown Corvette door. When I spoke with Yance by phone, he was a mix of overwhelmed and composed. Strong Island questions whether justice can be found, through the intimate story of the filmmaker's brother who was lost to gun violence, and the family's painful search for answers. he was frightened of Ford, a short but stocky young black man. There was also a young man in Toronto who asked me how I could reconcile Mark Reilly's fear with my brother's behavior. A 22-year-old black man, William Ford, was shot and killed by a 19-year-old white man, a mechanic named Mark Reilly, after a verbal altercation. As the title of the film indicates, the events of the film take place on Long Island, New York, where in April of 1992, William Ford Jr., a black 24 year-old teacher, was killed by Mark Reilly, a white 19-year-old mechanic after a series of arguments that began with a fender-bender. To Tell the Story That Tells the Trial: Ulises de la Orden on El juicio. Will There Be A 'Sex/Life' Season 3 on Netflix? My father just believed in my The entire feature is a personal journey for the filmmaker, who has had to endure years of pain because of their brother's death, which has received no justice at all despite the seemingly obvious murder. Weekend Watch is here for you. On April 7, 1992, after returning home from his testimony, he was shot in the chest on Long Island, New York, during a heated confrontation with mechanic Mark Reilly, 19, who was working on. dying day that the grand jury of twenty-three white people did not His autopsy report read: The body is that of a well-developed obese black male. probably get up and go. Racism is character assassination. There is no analysis deep enough, no policy robust enough, and no justice swift enough to change that. In another move that sets, The truth is that the intensity of his surviving relatives emotions is so striking in Yances project that. Strong Island, a documentary chronicling the 1992 murder of first-time filmmaker Yance Ford's brother, William Ford Jr., and the effect it had on him and his family, incorporates the dynamics of a police-like procedural and gut-wrenching, upfront, self- confession. passing on of necessary survival techniques. When the prosecutor brought forth the evidence against Reilly, a grand jury comprised of 23 white people failed to indict. All Rights Reserved. We want to hear from you! inside themselves, away from family connection. Fords voice interrogating the past, face tightly framed. As Yance The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. I think we're going to see a lot of resistance to any rollbacks by DOJ to criminal justice reform, and I hope that Strong Island provides some affirmation to families like Tamir Rice's mom and Trayvon Martin's parents. Yance Ford, who is transgender, is a recipient of the Creative Capital Award, a MacDowell Colony Fellowship, a Sundance Documentary Film Program Fellowship, and was among Filmmaker Magazines 25 New Faces of Independent Film in 2011. When I say, "How do you measure the distance of reasonable fear?," it's a real question. He wanted to get his family out of the city, and Yance Fords hands shuffling the photographs, laying them out, and Yance No, the lawyer responds. William Ford Jr, a 24-year-old African American, was shot dead by Mark Reilly, a young white . 1,173, This story has been shared 1,060 times. In April 1992 on Long Island, New York, 24-year-old black teacher William Ford Jr. was killed by Mark Reilly, a white 19-year-old mechanic. experience gave her a love of teaching. Yance Ford: I was at Sundanceit was maybe our second screeningand someone in the audience during the Q&A said she'd been in the Bronx ADA's office for 18 years, and that in her opinion, something very wrong happened with this case. in his own murder. by the voice of Yance Ford, who, at different moments in the film, reads