Arts & Entertainment
Mother of Jordan Davis Reflects upon her Loss
By Kam Williams
For The Skanner News
L
ucy McBath is the mother of Jordan
Davis, the unarmed teenager gunned
down at a Florida gas station for re-
fusing to turn down the radio which was
playing loud rap music. Although Jordan’s
murderer, Michael Dunn, has been con-
victed and sentenced to life in prison for
the crime, Lucy has remained a very vocal
advocate on behalf of all victims of such vi-
olence.
Here, she reminisces about Jordan while
discussing 3½ Minutes, Ten Bullets, a doc-
umentary chronicling the trial of her son’s
killer. She also discusses her commitment
to the Black Lives Matter movement and
to pressuring the criminal justice system to
hold all violators of black civil rights ac-
countable.
people who never spent
much time thinking about
the issues of racism and bi-
ases and guns and violence.
They see how we’re all re-
lated dynamically to my sto-
ry in some way, because it’s
everybody’s story.
KW: What interested you
in participating in this doc-
umentary?
LM: I’m a product of the
Lucy McBath in ‘3½ Minutes, Ten Bullets’
Civil Rights Era. My father
was a Civil Rights leader.
KW: She’s wondering whether you filed
So, I understood the power and authenticity
of being able to move people for a cause. I a civil lawsuit against your son’s killer, Mi-
felt that this would be one of the most effec- chael Dunn.
LM: Yes, we did.
tive ways to reach the largest possible audi-
ence and to prick their conscience and to get
KW: How would you describe Jordan in
them to open their homes and communities
25 words or less?
LM: Fun-loving, intuitive, spiritual and
humorous... [Chuckles] He was always
playing jokes, yet he was also really con-
cerned about others, especially people who
had less than he had, and people who who
didn’t have the opportunities that he had.
to discussions about gun violence and race.
KW: What was it like to not only lose
This gives us a chance to reach more people
than we’d ever be able to just in our own your son, but to have to grieve in the na-
tional spotlight, and at a time you were also
communities.
battling breast cancer?
LM: It was extremely, extremely difficult.
KW: Editor Jaymie Cain notes that you
went to grammar school in her hometown I had to deal with my son being murdered as
well as my health, and have it all played out
of Joliet, Illinois.
LM: Yes, that’s where I was born and in the media. But I understood the inherent
raised. And I still have cousins who reside importance of what we were doing, and that
I would have to put aside all of my ills and
there.
my “isms” because what God was doing was
much greater than Jordan, and that Jordan’s
life was serving as a catalyst for change. So
I had to put aside what was uncomfortable
for me to do what I needed to do.
My father was a Civil Rights leader. So, I
understood the power and authenticity of being
able to move people for a cause
Kam Williams: Hi Lucy, thanks for the
interview.
Lucy McBath: Thank you, Kam. I’m
glad we’re able to connect.
KW: 3½ Minutes, Ten Bullets was a very
powerful film. What did you think of it?
LM: I’m extremely pleased because it’s
truthful and it does the very thing we want-
ed, which is [to] impact people. It’s been
very, very well received, particularly among
KW: Have you bonded with any of the
other parents of other unarmed young blacks
killed by whites in recent years?
LM: Absolutely! I’m good friends with
Sybrina Fulton [Trayvon Martin’s mother].
Just recently, I spent some time with Michael
Brown’s mother [Leslie McSpadden]. I’ve
met Eric Garner’s mother [Gwen Carr] and
Tamir Rice’s mother [Samaria Rice], too.
Every year in Miami, Sybrina hosts what
she calls “The Circle of Mothers.” Along
the way, I’ve had a chance to meet quite a
few other mothers who are grieving over the
murders of their children, many of whose
cases never garnered national attention.
KW: Do you see a psychological differ-
ence in yourself from them, since you’re the
only mother whose son’s killer was convict-
ed of murder?
LM: In that regard, I’m kind of stuck be-
tween a rock and a hard place. Just because
we’ve received justice, doesn’t mean that
we don’t care about everyone who hasn’t.
It actually makes us even more passionate
because we know that justice can be done.
We wanted to set a precedent in the justice
system to give a sense of hope to our people.
We have to care about what’s happening in
our community. We have to care about the
other mothers and fathers who have never
received justice for their loved ones. So, we
feel very responsible to continue to stand
and fight the system with our heads high for
the rest of our lives, if necessary, until we
create the changes necessary for everyone
to receive justice.
KW: Is there one widespread misconcep-
tion about Jordan that you’d like to correct
for the record?
LM: Yeah, Jordan was born and raised
in Atlanta, Georgia. Because it happened
in Florida, everybody thinks Jordan was
from there. But he has a whole history in
Georgia. His church friends... his home
school group... the church school group...
The whole essence of who Jordan is, is be-
cause of Atlanta. That’s what I want people
to know.
See MCBATH on page 3
June 17, 2015 The Portland and Seattle Skanner Page 13