By Teelia Lowery
February 12, 2019 at 10:03 pm
The opening scene of The Two Killings of Sam Cooke, we see the legendary artists Smokey Robinson, Dione Warwick smiling with glee as the ambiance of the soulful sounds of gospel-influenced Sam Cooke echoes in the background.
The expectation of the documentary has proven to be transparent. There were times where the story become conflicting outlying the details surrounding Sam Cooke’s death. Some accounts weren’t told truthfully and were told in a pacified manner. Honesty was expected.
This happened when the young lady who accused Cooke of raping her changed up her story. The film shifted from the cause being he caused his own murder so he was set up to the FBI wanted to take him out. You can see how confusing this can become.
Overall the documentary was enjoyable and educating. It was raw in its form and honest, to say the least. The Two Killings of Sam Cooke gave an insight into how once a person of color decides to color outside the lines, they become a target, a martyr and nothing in the same sentence.
The love of clarity and addition of information was appreciated. The interviews showed the lighter side of Sam Cooke that only those very close to him would have known. It gave the audience an intimate experience with Sam Cooke.
Seeing Cooke’s lifeless body at the beginning of the documentary startled me for a second. I found myself unable to move past that moment in time. I teleported into that space, which the director achieved in his efforts. Although I didn’t agree with its placement in the film, it was necessary to identify him as a person senselessly killed for his beliefs and slandered post mortem.
Due to the era in time, the film was set, the audience was able to teleport into the Civil Rights era. I was able to feel my hair being pulled and being shoved by a white man as I walked down the streets in 1964. The audio guided me as I drifted my eyes from left to right on my television screen.
Introducing the relationship and correlation between Malcolm X and Muhammed Ali with Sam Cooke was brilliant because it made sense of who Cooke was. As a viewer, I was able to understand Cooke not only as a performer but as a social activist for his people. At the young age of 33, Cooke’s voice was reaching not only reaching his people; he was breaking color barriers.
Which brings me to the purpose of the film, who was Sam Cooke?
Sam Cook wasn’t a rapist, as told from the viewpoint of several interviewees. Family, friends, and artists honored his character as being a man who didn’t have to force himself on anyone. A man that the black community took pride in, a civil rights activist.
Smokey Robinson recalls, Cooke experiencing what life was like in the Jim Crow South on the Chitlin’ Circuit, having to endure separate accommodations for people of color. This ate at the core of Cooke’s pride.
In 1960, Cooke refused to perform at a segregated nightclub.
“I’ve always detested people of any color, religion or nationality who lack the courage to stand up and be counted,” he said.
Three years later Cooke would compose “A Change Is Gonna Come” which shaped the nation.
A year later he was found shot to death by the manager of a Los Angela hotel, in which the LAPD failed to conduct a proper investigation.
When the news of Cooke’s death went public it shocked the world, more so that there was no news coverage to patronize his life. He would’ve been remembered as another black man who was gunned down in the streets of L.A.
I would recommend that all people of colors, nations, and creeds watch and digest this film. There are many lessons to be learned from this documentary. The world we live in today is no different from the world Sam Cooke lived in.
Cover-ups of injustice, for those that want the actual definition of equality still exist all around our great country. Malcolm X, Martin L. King Jr., Medgar Evers, Sandra Bland, Freddy Gray, and even Sam Cooke, all people of color who used their voices to bring change, only to be silenced due to their refusal to “shut up and color.”
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