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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 17, 2016)
August 17, 2016 The Skanner Page 7 Arts & Entertainment Marc Lamont Hill: The ‘Nobody’ Interview By Kam Williams for The Skanner News M arc Lamont Hill is one of Amer- ica’s leading in- tellectual voices. He is currently the host of “BET News” and “VH1 Live,” as well as a politi- cal contributor on CNN. Marc has received prestigious awards from the National Association of Black Journalists, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance against Defamation and the International Acad- emy of Digital Arts and Sciences, to name a few. He holds a Ph.D with dis- tinction from the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania and currently serves on the faculty of Morehouse College as its Distin- guished Professor of Af- rican-American Studies. Here, he talks about his new book, “Nobody: Casualties of America’s War on the Vulnerable, from Ferguson to Flint and Beyond.” Kam Williams: Hi FILM REVIEW: ‘Hell or High Water’ a Captivating Cat-and-Mouse Crime Thriller By Kam Williams For The Skanner News KW: I really enjoyed the book. What inspired you to write it? MLH: It started with the death of Michael Brown. When I got to Ferguson to cover the funeral and the ater- math of the shooting for “BET News,” I found more than I expected. I realized that there was so much more to the sto- ry than what was being “ T anner (Ben Foster) and Toby Howard (Chris Pine) are sib- lings but about as diferent as night and day. The former is im- pulsive, reckless and so- ciopathic, a combination which helps explain why he’s spent a long stretch in prison for a violent crime. By comparison, his younger brother is a relatively stable, sensitive and chival- rous soul. While Tanner was behind bars, di- vorced Toby has divided his time be- tween raising his two sons (John Paul Howard and Christopher W. Garcia) and caring for his terminally-ill moth- er. So, it’s no surprise that upon his mom’s recent demise, she cut that ne’er- do-well black sheep of the family out of her will entirely, leaving her sizable estate to her only honorable ofspring. Unfortunately, a shady loan oicer (Richard Christie) had duped her into taking a reverse mortgage on her cattle ranch for a pittance. Consequently, a predatory lending institution is hold- ing a lien on land which Toby has just learned is sitting atop a fortune in un- tapped oil reserves. But unless the note is paid of by Friday, Texas Midlands bank will follow through on its threat to foreclose, “Come hell or high water.” Toby wants to save the property and sign it over to his boys. Trouble is, he can’t raise the cash. The dilemma has him considering breaking the law for the irst time in his life. Enlisting the assistance of his just-pa- roled brother, he hatches a plan to rob Texas Midlands branches until they’ve Marc, thanks for this op- portunity to speak with you. Marc Lamont Hill: My pleasure. ‘Hell or High Water’ raised the amount needed to retire the debt. The two proceed to embark on a spree aimed solely at the avaricious institution that had taken advantage of their very vulnerable mom. However, the heists soon come to the attention of the Texas Rangers, and the case is assigned to Marcus Hamilton (Jef Bridges) a wily old veteran weeks away from retirement. It’s not long be- fore he and his half-breed Comanche partner (Gil Birmingham) are on the pair’s trail. Thus unfolds “Hell or High Water,” a captivating, cat-and-mouse crime thriller directed by Brit David Mack- enzie (Starred Up). Between Taylor Sheridan’s (Sicario) engaging, charac- ter-driven script and a plethora of pow- erful performances by Jef Bridges and company, this bona ide sleeper would be generating tons of Oscar buzz if it hadn’t been released in the dog days of August. A neo-noir masterpiece not to be missed! Excellent HHHH Rated R for graphic violence, perva- sive profanity and brief sexuality Running time: 102 minutes was not indict- ed for killing Eric Garner... Tamir Rice was killed... Then Freddie Gray was killed that spring... And Walter Scott was shot in the back. And Marc Lamont Hill is the host of BET News and Sandra Bland VH1 Live, and a political contributor on CNN. was killed. Be- fore I knew it, was shot? Also, the grand there was a whole range jury concluded that he of stories. So, I decided never said, “Hands up, to tell a story about state don’t shoot!” Wouldn’t it violence and about how be better to rally around there’s a deeper war on a more deserving victim? the vulnerable that’s be- Whatever happened to It was deeper than [Police Oicer] Darren Wilson and Mike Brown. It was also about all these other factors that made Mike Brown no- body long before he ever walked onto Canield Drive the day of the shooting represented in the news. It was deeper than [Po- lice Oicer] Darren Wil- son and Mike Brown. It was also about all these other factors that made Mike Brown nobody long before he ever walked onto Canield Drive the day of the shooting. I re- ally just intended to tell the story of Ferguson, but then Daniel Pantaleo ing prosecuted every- where that allows the state violence to occur in the irst place. KW: Do you have any qualms about using Mike Brown as the poster child of the Black Lives Matter Movement when he was caught on tape robbing a convenience store a few minutes before he Dr. King’s notion of judg- ing not by the color of the skin but by the content of the character? MLH: Black Lives Mat- ter emerged months be- fore Michael Brown was ever killed. So, the move- ment had already started. It certainly got a lot of en- ergy and focus ater his See HILL on page 11