We Don’t Need Guards at ‘Straight Outta Compton’ Screenings, We Need Justice
Will the security for “Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation,” “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” and “Hitman: Agent 47” please stand up?
Oh. There is none. Yet some theaters are hiring security guards for this weekend’s opening of “Straight Outta Compton.” And Universal Pictures is footing the bill.
Let me get this straight: White men can sling guns and violence on the big screen and no one is scared. But the guards are coming out for a movie about N.W.A., the infamous and iconic rap group that rose out of Compton, Calif., during the ’80s era of crack, gang violence and police occupation. Some say it’s because of tense race relations nationwide, as well as the group’s subject matter.
Really? So this is about 1988’s “F* the Police.”
F* the police coming straight from the underground, a young n* got it bad cause I’m brown. And not the other color, so police think they have the authority to kill a minority.
— Ice Cube
It may be brash, but it was their war song against profiling and police abuse, from teens who came up in a neighborhood that was militarized by police. That song was an outlet, venting against a life filled with battering rams bursting through your door and being brutalized for driving or even standing in front of your own home while black.
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