Film: A racist killer on trial

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4 SOCIALIST ACTION AUGUST 2015 (Above) Jordan Davis’s mother holds Jet magazine with her son’s photo on cover while speaking at protest.

and Dunn’s family videos; courtroom vid­ eos and graphics—which both prosecu­ tor and defense attorney had prepared for the jury—as well as audio of recorded phone calls from Dunn to his fiancée, Rhonda Rouer, when he was in prison.

In one recording, Dunn complains that he’s like a rape victim, blamed for wear­ ing skimpy clothes. He also says that if he hadn’t shot him, Davis could have killed someone. At one point, Rouer tells him that he shouldn’t be in prison: “You are man of the waters. A man of peace.” I couldn’t help thinking, “Wrong! The guy’s a murderer!”

Jordan’s mother Lucia McBath and fa­ ther Ron Davis had tried unsuccessfully for years to have a baby. After several miscarriages, Lucia carried Jordan to full term; he was born by Caesarean section. Family videos show the parents’ joy at this event. They named him “Jordan” after the river, Lucia said during an in­ terview. A symbol of change, renewal, and new beginnings: not after Michael Jordan, as most thought.

According to one of his friends during an interview, Jordon Davis was a klutz at basketball, though he dressed the part. In fact, his friends said that Dunn had the wrong impression of them, especially during the trial when Dunn in­ sisted that they’d had a gun. No gun was ever found.

Despite Dunn’s labeling them “thugs” who were listening to loud “thug rap crap music”—as if that would have legitimized his right to shoot them—it was evident that the kids were just out to have fun with friends. (“Thug,” Jordan’s friend explained, has become a euphemism for the “n” word.)

Throughout his trial, Dunn maintained his innocence. In fact, he played himself as victim even when he took the stand. The turning point came when his shak­ ing, obviously terrified, fiancée testified against him. In an interview with the McKenzies, Dunn’s next door neighbors, which appears on YouTube but not in the film, they stated that Dunn was an arrogant bully who voiced his hatred for anyone who did not obey his orders. They added that they had evidence of his cocaine and alcohol consumption, wifebeatings, and pornography.

The jury came back with an “unde­ cided” on the first count of first-degree murder of Jordan Davis; and “guilty” on three counts of second-degree attempted murder (of Jordan’s friends)—a victory of sorts for Jordan’s parents. There is a hauntingly beautiful scene of families of all races marching in support of justice for Jordan, carrying umbrellas in a rain.

Dunn was sentenced to 60 years in prison with no option for parole. But Jor­ dan’s parents, relatives, friends, and sup­ porters were not satisfied. Lucia, whose father had worked with LBJ on the Civil Rights Bill, took the case to the U.S. Sen­ ate, where she succeeded in having the Stand Your Ground defense thrown out, paving the way for a new trial for firstdegree murder against Dunn.

It was a risk, but it paid off. In the judge’s words: “Mr. Dunn, your life is ef­ fectively over!”

Looking back, we see a string of past injustices: i.e., Fruitvale victim Oscar Grant, shot by a BART cop one New Year’s Day; Trayvon Martin, killed by a self-proclaimed neighborhood watch­ man; Jordan Davis, murdered by a civil­ ian (the latter two used Florida’s Stand Your Ground law as their defense); and Michael Brown, shot one year ago by a white officer in Ferguson, Mo. All were young Black males.

We live in a time when Black adults— both male and female—are routinely beaten, “tazed,” cuffed, physically re­ strained, and thrown in jail by cops, of­ ten for minor traffic violations. Some, like Sandra Bland last month in Texas, have died under mysterious circumstances while in custody.

Although the Jordan family was finally able to obtain justice in a small measure, we cannot rely on the courts, let alone the U.S. Senate, to stem racist violence. Only with the increasing growth of a mass pro­ test movement, like Black Lives Matter, can these atrocities be halted. n