Welcome to another edition of Retro Rewind, the original TGJ feature launched to celebrate TV and Film’s glorious and educational past.
Today, our journey takes us to 2011,the year in which ‘Me Facing Life: Cyntoia’s Story‘ was released.
Directed by Daniel Birman, the documentary follows the life of sixteen-year-old Cyntoia Brown after she is imprisoned for the murder of a 43-year-old real estate agent named Johnny Allen.
What Birman discovers while on his journey to Brown’s past shines a troubling light on the judicial system’s unfair handling of African-American minors and the harrowing realities faced by young girls forced into the sex trade.
A moving story below…
I’m learning so much from these retro rewinds.
Wow! Just wow.
Sign this petition! Help FREE CYNTOIA
http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/free-cyntoia-brown
My only question is, why was she given a life sentence for 1 murder at age 16 when there are even adults who do more than that who were not? I thought I recently read about a 16 year old boy who was just given a probation and no prison sentence(provided he doesn’t violate probaion)… The excuse she stated for shooting her victim is the exact same line used by the police officers who shot and killed unarmed people and they didn’t even spend a day in prison… So, why should she have to spend all her life in there?
NAME: CYNTOIA BROWN, TOMIS ID: 00410593, DOB: 01/29/1988, LOCATION: TENNESSEE PRISON FOR WOMEN PH: (615) 741-1255, PAROLE ELIGIBILITY: 06/22/2061. PRISONER CORRESPONDENCE: TENNESSEE PRISON FOR WOMEN, 3881 STEWARTS LANE, NASHVILLE TENNESSEE, 37218-3302. WRITE TO HER AND SHOW HER THAT YOU ARE BEHIND HER AND YOU CARE AND THAT SOMEONE IS LISTENING. YOU CAN LOOK UP AND CONFIRM HER DETAILS ON THE TENNESSEE PRISON FOR WOMEN WEBSITE.
Wow