fruitvale station
Grades 9-12
CLASSROOM GUIDE
using
this guide
reactions
to the film
contextualizing
fruitvale
station
media literacy
and
media making
reviews
about
the film
TEachi n g
the fi l m:
supplemental
resources
appendixes
Fruitvale Station is a narrative film that recreates the last day in the life of Oscar Grant,
an unarmed young man who died in an altercation with BART police on New Year’s Eve
2009. A class screening of the film may supplement a social studies, civics, or US history
curriculum. Taught in conjunction with this guide, the film will challenge students to
think critically about institutionalized racism, civil rights, and police brutality. Discussion
questions, activities, and supplemental materials facilitate further research into related
topics such as privilege and opportunity in American society, how to de-escalate violence in
an interaction with police, and the use of media and storytelling in an activist context.
All SFFS Youth Education materials are developed in alignment with California educational standards for media literacy.
SFFS Youth Education welcomes feedback and questions on all printed study materials.
Please direct all comments and queries to Keith Zwölfer, Youth Education Manager:
San Francisco Film Society Youth Education
39 Mesa Street, Suite 110 - The Presidio San Francisco, CA 94129-1025
kzwolfer@sffs.org
415.561.5040
SFFS Youth Education is made possible through the generous support of:
Union Bank Foundation | Nellie Wong Magic of Movies Education Fund | Walter and Elise Haas Fund |
Wells Fargo Foundation | The Hearst Foundations.
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Usi n g thi s gui d e
This study guide is intended to flexibly support
educators in preparing for and following
up on a class screening of Fruitvale Station. Support
about the fi l m
This is the story of Oscar, a 22-year-old Bay Area resident
who wakes up on the morning of December 31, 2008
and feels something in the air. Not sure what it is, he
takes it as a sign to get a head start on his resolutions:
being a better son to his mother, whose birthday falls on
New Year’s Eve; being a better partner to his girlfriend,
who he hasn’t been completely honest with as of late;
and being a better father to T, their beautiful 4-year-old
daughter. He starts out well, but as the day goes on,
he realizes that change is not going to come easy. He
crosses paths with friends, family, and strangers, each
exchange showing us that there is much more to Oscar
than meets the eye. But it would be his final encounter of
the day, with police officers at the Fruitvale BART station
that would shake the Bay Area to its very core, and cause
the entire nation to be witnesses to the story of Oscar
Grant.
-The Weinstein Company
materials are intended to facilitate group discussion,
individual and collaborative creative exercise, subjectbased learning and access to resources for further
investigation of material. Educators are encouraged to
adapt and abridge the content as necessary to meet
their unique learning objectives and circumstances.
Ryan Coogler (USA, 2013)
85 minutes, English, Grades 9-12
Recommended Subject Areas:
Art
History
Legal Studies
Social Studies
Key concepts / buzzwords:
Activism
Civil Rights
Compassion
Family
Justice
Law
Police Violence
Race and Racism
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Pre-viewing topics and discussion:
Fruitvale Station is a challenging film, so students
will benefit from gaining familiarity with the subject in
advance of a school screening. This article from Slate
Magazine can help introduce students to the story of
Oscar Grant’s murder, the subsequent activism in the
Bay Area, and the background behind director Ryan
Coogler’s decision to turn Grant’s story into a feature
film. After reading the article, students are encouraged
to share their reactions. It is possible that students
will have heard of the film or the incident in a different
context. Group discussion will provide an opportunity
for students to share apprehensions or initial reactions
before viewing the film.
In preparing to guide a group discussion around the
issues raised by Fruitvale Station, this article from
the Edutopia blog addresses the film’s relevance to
educators.
reacti o ns to the fi l m
Discussion Questions: Emotional Reactions
Upon finishing the film, take time to create a safe
space in the classroom where students can share
their emotional reactions. Engage students in a group
discussion or a journaling activity to encourage them to
process the film’s impact.
1) How do you feel after watching this film?
• Encourage students to speak to one another as a
group about their immediate reactions to the film,
or to write down those reactions.
• Let them know that it is important to feel these
feelings, to express them, process them, and
remember them.
• Ask students to revisit these writings in a creative
exercise later in the lesson.
Activity: Create a Word Wall
● Individually or as a group, write all the words that
come into your mind after the film has ended.
● Write words that describe your feelings or that
describe the themes in the film.
● Create a word wall on the chalkboard or on a
large piece of paper that allows students to work
collaboratively.
Discussion Questions: Characters and Story
1. Describe Oscar.
• What kind of a person is he?
• How does he interact with the people in his life?
• Can you relate to him?
2. Describe Oscar’s family and friends.
• How are they like or unlike people you know?
3. How does the film treat the subject of race?
• How do Oscar and the other characters cross racial
boundaries in the film?
• List specific instances in which the characters in
Fruitvale Station defy racial stereotypes.
• What do you think Fruitvale Station is trying to say
about racial stereotypes?
4. Oscar is an imperfect hero. He has many good
qualities, but he has also made mistakes.
• Do you sympathize with his struggle?
• Who gets a second chance in Fruitvale Station?
• Do you think that the film has a larger message
about who is getting second chances in our society
and who isn’t?
5. What does compassion mean?
• Were there moments during Fruitvale Station when
you felt compassion or empathy for the characters?
• Can compassionate storytelling make an impact in
changing our culture?
• What is the relationship between compassion and
community?
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Discussion Questions: Expression and Activism
1. What is activism? Develop a working definition of
activism for the class.
• Do you think that Fruitvale Station is an activist
film?
• Can art or storytelling be a form of activism?
• Can you think of any artworks, films, stories, or
songs that have a social or political message?
• How is Fruitvale Station like those works, and how
is it different?
3. What is the relationship between activism and social
change in the United States?
• What historic examples of activism have you
studied?
• Can you identify any examples of contemporary
activism?
• What is civil disobedience, and what role does it
play in a healthy democracy?
2. Ask students to revisit their initial reactions to the
film.
• How can you channel frustration and/or anger into
positive action?
• What actions can we do to process those difficult
or negative feelings? They may be acts of creative
expression, or they may be acts of protest.
• How might we put our anger to work to change
society?
can art be a form
of activism?
Activity:
Watch a five-minute video interview with political activist and author Angela Davis at the rally for Oscar Grant in
2009. See the Supplemental Resources section of this guide for articles and links that will help students learn
more about Angela Davis.
● What does Angela Davis mean by radical social activism?
● Have any students in the class engaged in activism? Discuss student experiences and perceptions of social
activism as they have experienced it in their own lives, or viewed it through the media.
● Use the IndyBay website and the Youth Activism Project, listed in the supplemental resources section of this
guide, to explore and connect with groups engaged in social action.
● Writing in journals or working in small discussion groups, encourage students to draft a plan for engaging in a
social action of their choosing.
● You might follow this activity with Activity 3 in the Make Media section of this guide: students visit a local
activist meeting and document the experience.
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frui t vale stati o n i n context
Discussion Questions: Know Your Rights
1. What are civil rights?
• What do you think of when you hear the term civil
rights?
• Work as a class to develop a working definition of
civil rights.
2. Who needs to know their civil rights?
• When might it be helpful to know your civil rights?
3. How do you protect your civil rights if you’re stopped
by a police officer?
• What are your responsibilities in an interaction with
police?
• What are the responsibilities of the police officer?
• How should you react if you feel that your rights are
being violated?
4. Review the ACLU Bustcard and the additional
materials provided by the ACLU.
• Write the rights and responsibilities on the board,
and ask students to reflect and respond.
• What information is new, and what information were
students already aware of?
Discussion Questions: A Civl Rights Lawsuit
1. Fruitvale Station is based on real events surrounding
Oscar Grant’s death in the Fruitvale BART station on
January 1st 2009. The officers involved in the shooting
were found not guilty of Grant’s murder. In response
to the verdict, Oscar Grant’s family filed legal charges
against BART police.
• As a class, read the first two pages of the complaint
for wrongful death and damages filed by Oscar
Grant’s family and their attorneys (complaint
excerpt is included in the appendix of this guide).
Activities
1. Stage a classroom reenactment of the police confrontation on the Bart station platform. Before engaging in
this activity, set ground rules and protocol for student interaction during the exercise. Students should behave
responsibly during the exercise, and act out the scenario without chaos or physicality.
● As a class, identify instances of civil rights violations, and instances in which de-escalation tactics might
have averted danger and tragedy.
● Create alternate responses for all parties involved to explore how each individual’s reactions can determine
the outcome of a scenario.
● Use the ACLU Bustcard in the appendixes of this guide as a reference.
2. Journaling activity. Imagine a scenario where it would be helpful to know your civil rights and responsibilities.
● Have students describe the scenario in a paragraph or write a short script of the scenario.
● Have students form small groups to act out these scripts or to adapt them into short PSA films. Refer to
the Media Literacy and Media Making sections of this guide and the curricular resources at FilmEd. for
more information about creating short films in the classroom
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2. Discuss student reactions to the document:
• How does the experience of reading the legal
document compare to the experience of watching
the film?
• What do you notice about the language used in the
legal document?
• Why is it important for civil rights lawyers to file a
lawsuit on behalf of Oscar Grant and his family?
Activity: Mock Trial
● Hold a classroom reenactment of the trial
following Oscar Grant’s murder.
● Use the resources in the New York times mock
trial lesson plan to assign courtroom roles and
to mimic legal protocol.
●
●
social studies and current events
Fruitvale Station received widespread attention upon
its release in the summer of 2013 in part because of
the film’s relevance to several prominent civil rights
cases that made national and international news. You
may want to discuss this film in the context of the
contemporary struggle for civil rights by connecting
the film to the Trayvon Martin case and to ongoing
legislation surrounding NYPD’s Stop and Frisk policy.
Should you choose to discuss the role that police
play in students’ home communities, we recommend
that you do so in the context of the Know Your Rights
module of this guide. Additional materials related to
the relationships between police and community in the
Bay Area are available in the supplemental materials
section of this guide.
Discussion Questions: Racial Profiling
1) What is racial profiling?
• Is racial profiling relevant to the story told in
Fruitvale Station?
• What role do you think that racial profiling played in
the events that led to Oscar Grant’s death?
• What can we do as a society and as a culture to try
to end discriminatory practices like racial profiling?
• The ACLU’s overview of racial profiling is a helpful
resource for students to review, either individually or
as a class.
2) What is New York City’s controversial Stop and Frisk
policy?
• Why should we discuss this policy in the context of
the film Fruitvale Station?
• Two helpful references on this subject are The New
York Times topic page on Stop and Frisk and the
article outlining an initial ruling in the case.
3) Comment on the following statement:
“The wholesale violation of civil rights has sown
mistrust between police officers and communities they
are supposed to protect.” (from the NYCLU fact sheet
on Stop and Frisk)
• What relationship should a police force have with its
local community?
• What kind of relationship forms when police employ
aggressive and/or violent tactics in a community?
• What do you think are the lingering effects of Oscar
Grant’s murder?
• How can police and community members work
together to build a relationship based on trust?
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4) You may find it appropriate and relevant to use a
classroom screening of Fruitvale Station to initiate
a discussion about the Trayvon Martin case and the
disproportionate use of force against young people of
color across the United States.
Using the resources surrounding the Trayvon Martin
case on the New York Times learning blog, talk about
how that case and others involving the wrongful death of
young people of color have affected students. Starting
the discussion with an article written by a young person
will help center this lesson on student perspectives and
encourage students to lead the discussion.
•
As a class, have students create a list of the facts
and statements about the case based on both the
texts and their personal knowledge.
•
In discussion, determine which statements are
genuine facts, and which are ideas and opinions
about what happened.
•
Then create and discuss a list of questions that the
case raises.
•
Present a writing or journaling assignment to
encourage students to further process their thoughts
and reactions.
The Trayvon Martin portion of this lesson module is
adapted from http://stephenlazar.com/blog/2012/03/
resources-for-teachers-teaching-about-trayvon-martin/
Journaling Activity:
● Imagine that you work for your local
police department.
● What would you do to make sure that
you were respecting your community’s
constitutional rights?
● What challenges would you face in
trying to be respectful while fighting
crime?
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medi a li t eracy & medi a maki n g
Discussion Questions:
Reading Fruitvale Station for Media Literacy
1. Fruitvale Station uses the medium of narrative fiction
to tell a true story.
•
•
•
What choices did writer/director Ryan Coogler and
actor Michael B. Jordan make to ensure that Oscar
Grant would seem like a believable character?
What challenges do you think the Fruitvale Station
production team faced in recreating the true story
of this tragic event?
Use this article on characterization in Fruitvale
Station as a reference.
2. What was your reaction to the cell phone footage
shown in the opening of the film and the documentary
sequence at the protest shown in the end?
•
•
What role do you think these elements of real video
footage served in the fictional narrative?
Why do you think the filmmakers chose to include
these sequences in the final film?
3. How is Fruitvale Station different from most films
that reach a wide audience?
• How are the characters in Fruitvale Station different
from typical Hollywood characters?
• How is the story of Fruitvale Station different from
most stories that we see in mainstream media?
• Do you think that writer/director Ryan Coogler made
a deliberate decision to challenge the stereotypes
that we often see in mass media?
• Do you think that an anti-stereotypical film like
Fruitvale Station has the potential to change
stereotypes and combat racial profiling? How?
Activities: Make Media
For more information about making media in the classroom, consult the FilmEd. Curriculum Guide. You may wish
to share classroom media projects in the Media Gallery at FilmEd.sffs.org
1. Educate Your Peers
● Make a PSA to teach young people about their rights and responsibilities in an interaction with police. Use the
Know Your Rights module of this guide and the ACLU Bustcard as reference materials.
● Students can create an informational script, act out potential encounters in a skit, or use animated text and
drawings to illustrate the civil rights concepts.
● Work in small groups to create and edit short films.
● Share student films with the class or with the larger school community.
2. React and Create
● Create a poem, song, drawing, or blog post that describes your reactions to the film. See Bay Area youth
reactions to Fruitvale Station for inspiration.
● Share completed creative works as a class, following guidelines for respectful classroom critique.
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Activities: Make Media
3. Explore Activism
● Attend a local activist meeting or protest. Consult the Activism Resources in the Supplemental Materials
section of this guide to connect with a group that aligns with your values.
● Document what you heard, saw, and experienced at the community meeting or protest.
● Use photography, writing, video, or audio recording for documentation.
● Create a short video, blog post, podcast, or photo essay to describe the experience to your classmates and
peers.
4. Remake News Media
● Using the free resources available on the Internet Archive, create a remixed video mashup of a local or
national news event.
● Select a topic that is receiving coverage through local or national news media, and identify dominant
perspectives and stereotypes in the news coverage.
● Using editing, video collage, or voice-over, recast the news report in a way that draws attention to stereotypes
or presents an alternate model of representation.
● For inspiration, watch a video in which young media makers at the Bay Area Video Coalition remixed
newscasters descriptions of young black men in the aftermath of Trayvon Martin’s murder.
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California Media Literacy Standards Addressed In This Lesson:
•
Grades 9 & 10: Standard 1.14 Identify the aesthetic effects of a media presentation and evaluate the
techniques used to create them (e.g., compare Shakespeare’s Henry V with Kenneth Branagh’s 1990 film
version).
•
Grades 9 & 10: Standard 1.2 Compare and contrast the ways in which media genres (e.g., televised news, news
magazines, documentaries, online information) cover the same event.
•
Grades 11 & 12: Standard 1.1 Recognize strategies used by the media to inform, persuade, entertain, and
transmit culture (e.g., advertisements; perpetuation of stereotypes; use of visual representations, special
effects, language); Standard 1.3 Interpret and evaluate the various ways in which events are presented
and information is communicated by visual image makers (e.g., graphic artists, documentary filmmakers,
illustrators, news photographers).
For more information about media literacy standards in your state, visit:
MediaLiteracy.com: United States Standards for media literacy education.
Frank W Baker’s guide to State Standards Which Include Elements of Media Literacy.
Common Core Standards In This Lesson:
Activities included in the Make Media section of this guide may provide an entry point to the Common Core’s
framework of creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, presentation and demonstration, problem solving, research
and inquiry, and career readiness.
This lesson addresses the English and Language Arts standards for Reading Literature grades 9-12. Additional
specific standard applications are listed below:
•
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.2 Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their
development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a
complex account; provide an objective summary of the text.
•
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.3 Analyze the impact of the author’s choices regarding how to develop and relate
elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are
introduced and developed).
•
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.3 Analyze a complex set of ideas or sequence of events and explain how specific
individuals, ideas, or events interact and develop over the course of the text.
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medi a li t eracy resources
SCREENING WITH MEANING
We live in a world where technology mediates a large
portion of human interaction and the exchange of
information. Every projected image, every word published
on a page or a website, and every sound from a speaker
reaches its audience through the medium, through the
language of the device. The ability to parse the vast array
of media messages is an essential skill for young people,
particularly in a mainstream commercial culture that targets
youth as a vulnerable, impressionable segment of the
American marketplace. Most students already have a keen
understanding of the languages different media use and the
techniques they employ to inspire particular emotions or
reactions, but they often lack the skill or awareness to fully
deconstruct the messages they continuously receive.
MEDIUM CORE
CONCEPTS
OF MEDIA
ANALYSIS
Analysis of a media message—or any piece of mass media
content—can best be accomplished by first identifying its
principal characteristics:
(1) Medium: the physical means by which it is contained
and/or delivered
(2) Author: the person(s) responsible for its creation and
dissemination
(3) Content: the information, emotions, values or ideas it
conveys
(4) Audience: the target audience to whom it is delivered
(5) Purpose: the objectives of its authors and the effects of
its dissemination.
Students who can readily identify these five core
characteristics will be equipped to understand the
incentives at work behind media messages, as well as
their potential consequences. Media literacy education
empowers students to become responsible consumers,
active citizens and critical thinkers.
All Media Is Constructed.
How is the message delivered and in what format?
What technologies are used to present the message?
What visual and auditory elements are used?
What expectations do you bring to the content, given its medium and format?
AUTHOR All Media Is Constructed by Someone.
Who is delivering the message?
Who originally constructed the message?
What expectations do you have of the content, given its author(s)?
CONTENT All Media Is A Language.
What is the subject of the media message?
What information, values, emotions or ideas are conveyed by the media content?
What tools does the author employ to engage the viewer and evoke a response?
To what extent did the content meet your expectations, given the format/author?
AUDIENCE All Media Messages Reach an Audience.
Who receives the message?
For whom is the message intended?
What is the public reaction to the media content and/or its message?
What is your reaction to the media content and/or its message?
How might others perceive this message differently? Why?
PURPOSE All Media Messages Are Constructed for a Reason.
Why was the message constructed?
Who benefits from dissemination of the message? How?
To what extent does the message achieve its purpose?
What effect does the message have on the audience it reaches, if any?
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THE FICTION FILM
WHAT IS A Narrative Feature?
A narrative film tells a fictional story. Narrative
filmmakers work from a script, directing actors through
a meticulous process that brings the written story to life.
Most of the films that we watch for entertainment are
narrative features. Like novels, these films tap into our
cultural mythology, and they spark our imaginations.
Fictional films introduce us to heroes and anti-heroes,
villains and comedians. They transport us to worlds that
are larger and more dramatic than our own. In writing
fiction, authors share their beliefs and value systems with
an audience, creating a dialogue around cultural values.
Storytelling is one of the oldest human art forms. We tell
stories about everything from our daily struggles to our
deepest belief systems. Filmmaking is a process of visual
storytelling. It combines written narrative with moving
image and sound. Films pull us away from the myriad
distractions of modern life and immerse us in the world
of a story.
WRITING FOR THE SCREEN
Narrative filmmaking begins with a story and a script.
Some film scripts are based on novels, and others are
written specifically for the screen. The process of writing
a film is similar to the process of creating any story; the
screenwriter begins with an idea, develops characters,
involves them in a plot with rising action, brings the
tension to a climax, and then finishes the film with a
resolution. Like novelists, screenwriters often make
changes to these basic plot structures, but you may be
surprised at how often your favorite films fit the model.
• Can you identify conflict, rising action, climax,
and resolution in one of your favorite films?
PRODUCTION
Once the script is written, the filmmakers need to transfer
the story from the page to the screen. The film will need a
producer, the manager or boss of the filmmaking
basic roles in a film production
screenwriter
The screenwriter creates a story with a plot
and characters, and develops it into a script that can be acted
onscreen. Some writers direct their own stories, and others work
with a different director.
producer
The producer is the organizer who carries a film
from the script to the screen. Bigger film productions have many
producers in charge of different functions, and in smaller films
one producer wears many hats.
director
The director manages the creative side of the film
production, coaxing strong performances from the actors, and
defining the look and feel of each scenes. The director may be
assisted by one or many assitant directors.
actors
The actors embody the characters in the script and
bring the story to life. Lead actors play the main roles and
supporting actors play less central characters.
cinematographer
Also known as the director of
photography, the cinematographer decides the composition
and lighting of each shot. A support staff of camera operators
assists the cinematographer.
Sound crew
A sound mixer and boom operator work
together to record speech and ambient sounds from each shot.
Lighting crew
The lighting crew is made up of the grip
and the gaffer. The gaffer is the chief electrician on set, and he
or she designs a lighting scheme. The grip magnifies some lights
and blocks others to achieve the desired effects.
art department
In a major film, the art department
might employ hundreds of people. Their jobs include costumes,
make-up, set construction, props, and special effects.
editor
The editor works with the director to build the footage
into a story. Usually several assistant editors provide support.
Sound designer
The sound designer adds music and sound
effects to the raw footage to create a soundtrack for the film. Many
films have an original score, or music that an artist composes
specifically for that film.
Visual Effects
The VFX crew works on the set and in the
post production studio to create virtual and digitally-generated
images and scene elements.
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process. Making a narrative feature film is a little bit like
starting a small business. The producer finds investors
who will pay the salaries of the actors, the director, and
all of the many crew members who work together to
create the magic of a movie. While the director oversees
the creative elements of the filmmaking process, the
producer makes sure that everyone at work on the
production is doing a good job.
• Can you name the producers of any of your
favorite films?
• Look at the table on the previous page to learn
some of the different roles in a film production.
Production gets underway when the director, actors,
and crew members begin filming the movie scene by
scene. Some narrative films are shot in a constructed
set, and others are shot on location, or in the actual
landscape where the story takes place. The director
helps the actors deliver strong performances that fit
each character and helps the cinematographer or
director of photography to capture the best shot.
The editor, sound designer, visual effects artists,
and the rest of the post-production staff take the raw
footage from production and build it into a finished film.
Traditionally, editing involved cutting the film negative
and splicing it together in new combinations. Today,
editors work with computer software to simulate that
process. The way a scene is edited, or cut, combines
with the sound design to guide the viewer’s reaction.
A scary scene can easily become funny with a different
edit and soundtrack, and vice-versa. Films that make
heavy use of digital effects, like science fiction and
fantasy films, take more time in post-production than
films that rely on live action.
• Can you name a popular film that uses complex
visual effects?
• Can you think of a film that uses soundtrack to
guide the viewer’s emotions?
.
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supplemental RESOURCES
Pre-Viewing Materials:
Slate Blog : the story behind Fruitvale Station.http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/05/13/fruitvale_station_
trailer_oscar_grant_shooting_is_brought_to_the_screen.html
Edutopia: Educators, See This Film! http://www.edutopia.org/blog/fruitvale-station-see-this-film-educators-elena-aguilar
Oscar Grant and the Civil Rights Lawsuit:
The Oscar Grant Foundation Website: http://www.oscargrantfoundation.com/
Youth React to Oscar Grant’s Killing: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/youth-radio-youth-media-international/youth-reactto-oscar-gran_b_157298.html
NAACP reacts to the ruling in Oscar Grant’s case: http://www.naacp.org/news/entry/naacp-denounces-verdict-of-oscargrant-case
New York Times Learning Blog guidelines for staging a mock trial: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs/
learning/pdf/2010/20101004mocktrial.pdf
Activism Resources:
Angela Davis at the rally for Oscar Grant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRl2Q1k9mS0
Angela Davis’s faculty biography page at UC Santa Cruz: http://feministstudies.ucsc.edu/faculty/singleton.
php?&singleton=true&cruz_id=aydavis
1972 Interview with Angela Davis from the Black Power Mixtape: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2BIZy0HScM
Youth Activism Project: http://youthactivismproject.org/youth-strategies/youth-strategies-100-national-advocacyorgaizations/
IndyBay Bay Area Activist Network: https://www.indybay.org/education/
Materials from the ACLU:
Know Your Rights https://www.aclu.org/drug-law-reform-immigrants-rights-racial-justice/know-your-rights-what-do-if-you
Racial Profiling Overview https://www.aclu.org/racial-justice/racial-profiling
ABOUT THE FILM AND THIS GUIDE
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Classroom Media, Media Literacy and Media Literacy Standards:
FilmEd. powered by the San Francisco Film Society http://filmed.sffs.org/
Lyn Miller Lachmann: character development in Fruitvale Station http://www.lynmillerlachmann.com/developingcharacters-the-lesson-of-fruitvale-station/
MediaLiteracy.com http://www.medialiteracy.com/standards.htm
State Standards http://frankwbaker.com/state_lit.htm
Bay Area Youth Reflect on Fruitvale Station:
Bay Area Video Coalition: http://www.bavc.org/factory-responds-to-fruitvale-station
Youth Radio: https://youthradio.org/classroom/article/review-fruitvale-station/
Stop and Frisk
Judge Rejects New York’s Stop and Frisk Policy. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/13/nyregion/stop-and-frisk-practiceviolated-rights-judge-rules.html?_r=1&
NYCLU Stop and Frisk Fact Sheet http://www.nyclu.org/files/stopandfrisk-factsheet.pdf
The New York Times topic page for Stop and Frisk http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/s/
Police and Community Relations in the Bay Area
New York Times Article “Overrun by Crime, Oakland Looks to Make Allies in Community”: http://www.nytimes.
com/2013/03/11/us/to-cut-crime-oakland-to-reduce-size-of-police-districts.html?_r=0
Colorlines.com “From Anaheim to Oakland, Police Brutality Still Plagues California” : http://colorlines.com/
archives/2012/08/from_anaheim_to_oakland_police_brutality_still_plagues_california.html
NBC Bay Area “SFPD Brutality Charge Following Bicyclist Arrest”: http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/SFPDBrutality-Charge-Following-Bicyclist-Arrest-232588071.html
CBS Local “Protesters in Bay Area Across State Denounce Police Killing of Andy Lopez”: http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.
com/2013/11/09/protesters-in-bay-area-across-state-denounce-police-killing-of-andy-lopez/
Teaching About Trayvon Martin
The New York Times Learning Blog http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/26/on-trayvon-martin-a-guest-postfrom-a-teenager-and-some-teaching-suggestions/
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revi e ws
Director’s Statement
Interview with Ryan
Coogler at the Bay Area
premiere of Fruitvale
Station
http://www.ktvu.com/
videos/news/fruitvalestation-director-ryancoogler-talks/v4xCT/
from RogerEbert.com
Steven Boone
July 15, 2013
“Fruitvale Station” is about what we can imagine when
we cast our gaze across the longstanding divides in this
persistently, cancerously segregated American society.
Like Paul Haggis’ “Crash,” it is an ambitious do-gooder
project aimed at penetrating hardened hearts. Unlike
“Crash,” it has one solid, irrefutable piece of reality
on which to anchor its fable-like teachable moments:
The protagonist, Oscar Grant (the brilliant Michael B.
Jordan), was a real 22-year-old man. The first thing we
see in “Fruitvale” is the fatal moment that will lead to
Oscar’s death. Camera phone footage of Bay Area Rapid
Transit cops beating Oscar and his friends on a subway
platform ends with a gunshot.
The rest of the film dramatizes what Oscar was up to the
day before he was killed, New Year’s Eve 2009. I must
paraphrase “The Elephant Man” to explain what it all
amounts to: Oscar was not an animal. He was a human
being. He had dreams and feelings. He cared for many
people, and many people cared for him. His death left a
giant crater in several lives.
For those of you who understand that young black
men are humans, not beasts, it might sound like a silly
project to undertake. But consider what pop culture
gives us to go on. For every complicated, vulnerable,
flawed but basically decent black male character
or celebrity there are a hundred loud, imbecilic
thugs. Ho’wood spent six decades emasculating and
lobotomizing black male characters, then traded on
some cheap, crime-based empowerment narratives via
blaxploitation.
The past three decades were about depicting the
refurbished, physically potent and powerful black man
as a moral and intellectual weakling. When we did
get a glimpse of black male intelligence, it tended to
be the psychopathic “street smart” variety. The pop
icons among rap artists, the ones who dine with the
corporate elite, promote prison culture, ruthless selfinterest and jewelry.
These images have fed racists, but they’ve also fed
generations of black boys who learned that survival in a
country that has little use for them means suppressing
“soft” emotions and projecting a confidence that, in
black skin, often comes off as arrogance. People who
wanted to believe that blacks are inferior and black
youth who took these images of aggressive inferiority
as the underclass path to success joined hands to keep
the dehumanization circus in business into the new
century.
Judging by its haunted atmosphere, “Fruitvale Station”
knows all that history, and knows better than to
confront it, fret over it or wag its finger at it. Writerdirector Ryan Coogler simply lets us sample Oscar’s
daily routine and pressures. We get so caught up in his
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world, there’s little time to respond to the cultural cues
that would indicate to a certain segment of the audience
that they’re dealing with what “Menace II Society” called
“America’s nightmare: young, black and don’t give a
fuck.”
Oscar gives a fuck. He dresses like a homeboy and blasts
his car stereo, but he is no thug. He’s a father worrying
about rent, bills and his daughter’s schooling. He used
to sell marijuana to get by, and losing his job at the local
supermarket pushes him that much closer to dealing pot
again. But he’s been busted before, so another arrest
could send him away from his daughter and her mother
(the radiant Melonie Diaz) for a good while.
His explosive side stems more from the fact that he
shares little of his mental burdens with anyone. At least
the raging bull Jake LaMotta had the boxing ring. Oscar
has few outlets, but his girlfriend and daughter and
friends and family keep him “lifted up” — a term his
mother (Octavia Spencer) uses when gathering them all
to pray for Oscar to survive the bullet that pierced his
lung.
“Fruitvale Station” reminded me of a social realist classic
by Ken Loach (“Raining Stones,” “The Wind that Shakes
the Barley”, “Land and Freedom”). Its volatile, deeply
sensitive and charismatic protagonist is in the mold of
Loach’s working-class antiheroes. The only important
differences are that Ryan Coogler’s debut feature is
set in the US, not the UK, and his hero is black. If
these differences don’t sound like much, try to imagine
Trayvon Martin as a white kid. Would there be as many
commentators speculating that Trayvon’s attitude caused
his own death at the hands of the man who stalked
him with a gun? Or let’s imagine the new cult classic,
Nicholas Winding Refn’s “Drive,” with Michael K. Williams
in the lead role as a stoic, brutally violent protector,
instead of blond sex symbol Ryan Gosling.
In many ways, “Fruitvale Station” is as green and earnest
as “Boyz N the Hood,” a debut film made by another
alumnus of Coogler’s alma mater, USC: John Singleton.
Yet its ambition is closer to that of the most important
American indie film in at least a decade, Patrick
Wang’s “In the Family,” a must-see that’s now available
on DVD. It’s about a gay father (played by Wang)
who’s cruelly separated from his son after his partner,
the boy’s biological father, dies. The film becomes
something much grander than a woe-is-he political
statement as Wang slowly, stealthily brings various
strangers into the picture. These folks, inscrutable and
potentially hostile at first, become the protagonist’s
passionate allies, revealing useful talents and resources
we didn’t expect. It’s all because Wang’s character
draws them in with his sunny, embracing, fair-minded
spirit.
It’s the same spirit that Oscar brings to encounters
with those who don’t automatically write him off. The
genius of Jordan’s performance, and the sense of
portent that Coogler builds around it, is in showing
how aware Oscar was that his freedom and even his
life could depend on overturning a superficial, unfair
impression.
from NewYorker.com
THE CURRENT CINEMA: TIMELY PROJECTS
“Fruitvale Station”
BY DAVID DENBY
JULY 29, 2013
What is the value of a young black man’s life? That
question should have been settled long ago—or never
asked—but it remains enragingly alive, and it has
been posed again, with uncanny timing and force,
in the new independent film “Fruitvale Station.” The
movie is based on a true story. On New Year’s Eve,
2008, Oscar Grant III, twenty-two years old, was out
with friends in San Francisco. Going home to the East
Bay on a BART train, a few hours after midnight, he
got into a fight with a white thug who baited him. The
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police removed Grant and his friends from the train and
detained them at the Fruitvale station in Oakland, where
Grant, lying face down on the platform, was shot by a
panicked BARTcop. The officer later said that he reached
for his Taser and pulled out his gun by mistake. Grant
died the next morning; the policeman was convicted of
involuntary manslaughter, and served eleven months.
In 2011, Ryan Coogler, a twenty-four-year-old AfricanAmerican film student at the University of Southern
California, approached the actor and producer Forest
Whitaker with an idea for telling Oscar Grant’s story.
Whitaker signed on immediately, and the movie was
reportedly made for less than a million dollars. “Fruitvale
Station” is a confident, touching, and, finally, shattering
directorial début. Coogler begins with an actual cellphone video of the killing taken by a bystander—a shaky
and distant record in which we see Oscar and his friends
lying on the platform, and the police, alarmed by the
crowd cursing at them, trying to control the situation.
We hear a shot; onlookers gasp. The rest of “Fruitvale
Station” re-creates the last twenty-four hours of Grant’s
life. The day surges toward the moment on the platform
with an appalling finality.
Coogler uses Oscar’s cell-phone calls as a means of
framing the different elements in his life. December
31st was a busy day, in which Oscar gives up selling
marijuana (which has landed him in prison in the past);
attempts to get back a job that he lost two weeks earlier;
and buys food for his mother’s birthday party—a happy
family gathering that takes place early in the evening.
Michael B. Jordan (“The Wire,” “Friday Night Lights”),
who plays Oscar, has a dazzling smile and an easy way
about him—physically, Oscar glides through his life with
complete assurance. He has an affectionate but difficult
relationship with his girlfriend, Sophina (Melonie Diaz),
the mother of his young daughter, whom he adores.
Sophina wants him to shape up. She’s not the only one.
Oscar is charming and friendly, but there’s something
lost and irresolute about him that drives the people
who love him crazy. It’s hard for him to be straight
with them: he delays telling Sophina and his toughtalking mother, Wanda (Octavia Spencer), that he was
fired. We can see from a prison sequence set in the
past that he’s fearless and won’t let anyone push him
around. Yet if he’s overprepared to fight for himself,
he’s underprepared to earn a living and take care of
a family. He’s an uncertain young man who is just
possibly shifting, at the New Year, toward a steadier life.
Coogler is unafraid of emotion—Octavia Spencer, with
her big round eyes and her commanding voice, anchors
our angry response to the tragedy—but he hasn’t made
a tearjerker. The scene at the station is a nightmare
of confusion, and Coogler doesn’t make clear why the
police detained only the young black men—apart from
the implicit racial explanation. But he isn’t interested
in settling scores or in issuing racial sermons,
either. If anything, the movie offers a wistful hope
of solidarity: Oscar, during his last day, has several
pleasant encounters with whites. The tolerant, friendly
atmosphere of the Bay Area is one reason that the
finale is so heartbreaking. “Fruitvale Station” sums up
Oscar’s life, but the act of summing up can tell us only
so much, since a young life is still a maze of promise
and indecision. From the evidence of this movie, Oscar
Grant was smart and foolish, loving and irresponsible,
candid and evasive, and now he’s another young black
man gone.
6
This information is not intended as legal advice.
This brochure is available in English and Spanish /
Esta tarjeta también se puede obtener en inglés y español.
ProducedbytheAmericanCivilLibertiesUnion6/10
www.aclu.org
YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES
• Do stay calm and be polite.
• Do not interfere with or obstruct the police.
• Do not lie or give false documents.
• Do prepare yourself and your family in case you are arrested.
• Do remember the details of the encounter.
• DofileawrittencomplaintorcallyourlocalACLUifyoufeel
your rights have been violated.
Stop the car in a safe place as quickly as possible. Turn off the
car, turn on the internal light, open the window part way and place
your hands on the wheel.
2
IF YOU ARE STOPPED IN YOUR CAR
You do not have to consent to a search of yourself or your
belongings, but police may “pat down” your clothing if they suspect
aweapon.Youshouldnotphysicallyresist,butyouhavetheright
torefuseconsentforanyfurthersearch.Ifyoudo consent, it can
affect you later in court.
You have the right to remain silent and cannot be punished for
refusingtoanswerquestions.Ifyouwishtoremainsilent,tellthe
officeroutloud.Insomestates,youmustgiveyournameifasked
to identify yourself.
Ask if you are free to leave. If the officer says yes, calmly and
silentlywalkaway.Ifyouareunderarrest,youhavearighttoknow
why.
Stay calm. Don’t run. Don’t argue, resist or obstruct the police,
even if you are innocent or police are violating your rights. Keep
your hands where police can see them.
IF YOU ARE STOPPED FOR QUESTIONING
POLICE, IMMIGRATION AGENTS OR THE FBI
YOUR RIGHTS
• Youhavetherighttoremainsilent.Ifyouwishtoexercise
that right, say so out loud.
• Youhavetherighttorefusetoconsenttoasearchofyourself,
your car or your home.
• Ifyouarenotunderarrest,youhavetherighttocalmlyleave.
• Youhavetherighttoalawyerifyouarearrested.Askforone
immediately.
• Regardlessofyourimmigrationorcitizenshipstatus,you
have constitutional rights.
You have the right to contact your consulate or have an officer
inform the consulate of your arrest.
Tell the ICE agent you wish to remain silent. Do not discuss your
immigration status with anyone but your lawyer.
Do not sign anything, such as a voluntary departure or stipulated
removal,withouttalkingtoalawyer.Ifyousign,youmaybegiving
up your opportunity to try to stay in the U.S.
Remember your immigration number (“A” number) and give it to
your family.Itwillhelpfamilymemberslocateyou.
Keep a copy of your immigration documents with someone you
trust.
IF YOU FEEL YOUR RIGHTS HAVE BEEN VIOLATED
Remember: police misconduct cannot be challenged on the
street. Don’t physically resist officers or threaten to file a
complaint.
Write down everything you remember, including officers’ badge
and patrol car numbers, which agency the officers were from, and
any other details. Get contact information for witnesses. If you
are injured, take photographs of your injuries (but seek medical
attention first).
File a written complaint with the agency’s internal affairs division
orciviliancomplaintboard.Inmostcases,youcanfileacomplaint
anonymously if you wish.
Call your local ACLU or visit www.aclu.org/profiling.
We rely on the police to keep us safe and treat us all fairly, regardless of race,
ethnicity, national origin or religion. This card provides tips for interacting with police
and understanding your rights. Note: some state laws may vary. Separate rules apply
at checkpoints and when entering the U.S. (including at airports).
IF YOU ARE ARRESTED
Do not resist arrest, even if you believe the arrest is unfair.
Say you wish to remain silent and ask for a lawyer immediately.
Don’t give any explanations or excuses. If you can’t pay for a
lawyer, you have the right to a free one. Don’t say anything, sign
anything or make any decisions without a lawyer.
You have the right to make a local phone call. The police cannot
listen if you call a lawyer.
Prepare yourself and your family in case you are arrested.
Memorize the phone numbers of your family and your lawyer.
Make emergency plans if you have children or take medication.
Special considerations for non-citizens:
• Askyourlawyerabouttheeffectofacriminalconvictionorplea
on your immigration status.
• Don’t discuss your immigration status with anyone but your
lawyer.
• Whileyouareinjail,animmigrationagentmayvisityou.Donot
answer questions or sign anything before talking to a lawyer.
• Readallpapersfully.Ifyoudonotunderstandorcannotread
the papers, tell the officer you need an interpreter.
IF YOU ARE TAKEN INTO IMMIGRATION (OR “ICE”) CUSTODY
You have the right to a lawyer, but the government does not have
toprovideoneforyou.Ifyoudonothavealawyer,askforalistof
free or low-cost legal services.
5
WHAT TO DO IF YOU’RE STOPPED BY
Do not lie about your citizenship status or provide fake
documents.
3
If you are not a U.S. citizen and an immigration agent requests
your immigration papers, you must show them if you have them
with you. If you are over 18, carry your immigration documents
withyouatalltimes.Ifyoudonothaveimmigrationpapers,say
you want to remain silent.
You have the right to remain silent and do not have to discuss
your immigration or citizenship status with police, immigration
agentsoranyotherofficials.Youdonothavetoanswerquestions
aboutwhereyouwereborn,whetheryouareaU.S.citizen,orhow
you entered the country. (Separate rules apply at international
borders and airports, and for individuals on certain nonimmigrant
visas, including tourists and business travelers.)
IF YOU ARE QUESTIONED ABOUT YOUR IMMIGRATION STATUS
Both drivers and passengers have the right to remain silent.If
you are a passenger, you can ask if you are free to leave. If the
officer says yes, sit silently or calmly leave. Even if the officer says
no, you have the right to remain silent.
If an officer or immigration agent asks to look inside your car,
you can refuse to consent to the search. But if police believe your
car contains evidence of a crime, your car can be searched without
your consent.
Upon request, show police your driver’s license, registration and
proof of insurance.
IF THE POLICE OR IMMIGRATION AGENTS COME TO YOUR HOME
Ifthepoliceorimmigrationagentscometoyourhome,you do not
have to let them in unless they have certain kinds of warrants.
Ask the officer to slip the warrant under the door or hold it up to
the window so you can inspect it. Asearch warrant allows police
to enter the address listed on the warrant, but officers can only
searchtheareasandfortheitemslisted.Anarrest warrant allows
police to enter the home of the person listed on the warrant if they
believethepersonisinside.Awarrant of removal/deportation(ICE
warrant) does not allow officers to enter a home without consent.
Even if officers have a warrant, you have the right to remain silent.
Ifyouchoosetospeaktotheofficers,step outside and close the
door.
IF YOU ARE CONTACTED BY THE FBI
IfanFBIagentcomestoyourhomeorworkplace,you do not have
to answer any questions. Tell the agent you want to speak to a
lawyer first.
IfyouareaskedtomeetwithFBIagentsforaninterview,you have
the right to say you do not want to be interviewed.Ifyouagreeto
an interview, have a lawyer present. You do not have to answer
any questions you feel uncomfortable answering, and can say that
you will only answer questions on a specific topic.
4