This film brings to light the painful era of racism in law enforcement throughout South Florida's history since the 1930's. It is simply a truly powerful story that will linger with you long after you have seen it. Now let's fix it.
Fully sourced and historically accurate portrayal of historical racism in South Florida's courts and law enforcement beginning in the 1930's and continuing until today. This film recreates real cases and incorporates original news footage of real events and much of its content is taken directly from official court documents and transcripts. The parallels it draws from the past to the present expose the root causes of the continuing problems of racism in South Florida law enforcement. The film is very real and very raw and it begins with 3 high profiles cases of racial violence that occurred both in and out the courts in Dade and Broward counties when South Florida's government leaders tortured confessions and executed innocent African Americans without appeals to placate angry white lynch mobs. Act I tells the true story of "The Little Scottsboro Boys" case in 1933 in which four innocent Bahamian workers were arrested and tortured for days to coerce their confessions to a murder they did not commit. Their false convictions lead to the Supreme Court's landmark ruling in Chambers v. Florida which outlawed the use of confessions obtained by torture. Act II is a recreation of the 1934 trial of Walter "Doc" Williams in Miami by which the Governor of Florida orchestrated Doc Williams being railroaded into the electric chair for the rape of a white woman, a crime he did not commit. The trial of Walter "Doc" Williams, was recreated with live actors in the original courtroom at the Miami-Dade County Courthouse (built in 1925) where the Williams trial was held in 1934. Act III portrays the 1935 lynching of Rubin Stacey in Fort Lauderdale. Stacey was an innocent black man who was lynched by an outraged mob of white supremacists lead by the Sheriff of Broward County. The film incorporates original news footage dating back to the 1930's until today with live actor recreations of those events and concludes with commentary by family members of Ruben Stacey and by some of those who have been unjustly condemned to death on Florida's death row as well as academics and attorneys who explain why South Florida's criminal justice system has been broken for over 100 years and what must be done to fix it.
