“Now everything I’m not, made me everything I am.” – Kanye West
In the 2000 film Finding Forrester, Rob Brown’s character (Jamal Wallace) is offered the opportunity to attend a private school because of his test scores and basketball skills. In the movie, there is a transitory scene of him taking the train from his home in the Bronx to a prestigious prep school in Manhattan. This brief picture displays a black teenager in street clothes surrounded by older white men in business suits. This quick nondescript scene might not even be noticed by the average movie watcher, but for whatever reason it made an impression on me. I wonder what Wallace was thinking during his subway ride across the city. What was the director trying to convey here? Did he want us to view ourselves in Wallace’s shoes? Did he want us to notice how much Wallace stood out amongst the other train riders? I wonder how many impoverished urban youth ever get the opportunity of a quality education.
FOOTNOTE 4 