Justina Grayman was shopping for groceries two years ago when she heard the song “Black Man in America” play throughout the store. She was captured by an image in her head, one of a white table in an all-white room and five black men with five guns. 

“[The image] connected with the frustration and powerlessness I’ve felt with my brothers,” Grayman told Blavity in an interview. "While I see them as grown up versions of the little kids I played with, the people that were always cool and funny that I looked up to, that is not how society sees them and not how society, our government, or institutions treat them.

Inspired, Grayman storyboarded the idea and found a partner in Vance Brown, who wrote “Black Man in America.” Together, they shot a short film with the same name. The idea derived from her initial image, meant to celebrate and start a conversation about black men. 

The short begins with a black boy running through a garden, care-free amongst the plants as tall as him. Then a sudden shift places the boy amongst four others, all sitting in a white room, at a white table, with black pants and no shirts. Their skin seems exposed against the expanse of nothing. As the camera pans in, the boys lay down their head, and suddenly five black men take their place. The men dance in unison, using violent, jerking movements and faux-screams as their bodies tense and muscles strain. The song “All Eyez On Me” by Tupac plays as a refrain. 

“It stopped being about unearthing the trauma and destruction that Black people endured from the police state and it started being about the spectacle of violence on Black men,” Brown said. “‘All Eyez On Me’ is a reference to America treating my horror as its entertainment.”

The men begin to fight and when a white hand places down a gun, they are quick to accept the offer. The guns point at one another and the young boys from before watch in the background. 

Brown recalls a conversation he had with the young actors before shooting the scenes with guns, as well as their parents who were uncomfortable with the idea of any of their children holding the fake weapons or pointing them at each other. 

“I told the kids that there is a before and an after to any violent act that a lot of times we don’t acknowledge. The film chooses to acknowledge what leads up to the violence and the impact of that violence,” Brown said. “Grant, one of the children who interacts with the gun, in the middle of the day, thanked everyone for being in the space with him and being who they are. It was a bit jarring to come from someone so young.”

Justina and Vance hope to host 30 screenings of the video, using the events to celebrate Black men. The video will make its premiere on Nov. 2 at a special event hosted by its creators; those who are unable to attend can view the piece online on Nov. 5. 

Watch the short film below: 

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