The title gives the stats for a murder case that may change the perception of homicide and race in America. In 2012, a middle-aged white man, Michael Dunn, was arrested for fatally shooting a young black man, Jordan Davis, outside a gas station in Jacksonsville, Florida. Davis was with three (black) friends in a car playing loud music that they refused to turn down: the altercation escalated to shooting and Dunn’s case depended on his contention that he was acting in self-defence under Florida’s “stand your ground” law, claiming he had grounds to believe Davis had a weapon, though none was found. The media nervously overlooked the racial aspect of the crime and portrayed it as being about antisocial behaviour, loud music, the breakdown of civility and public space. But the film shows that the case was all too similar to the Trayvon Martin killing, in which a young black man in Florida was killed by a white community-watch volunteer. Could it be that shooting young black men is something white people can get away with, as long as they claim to have seen their victim apparently going for a gun? So this case is about race. But British audiences for this film will, I think, have another reaction. Sure it’s about race – but it’s also about guns. How about the grotesque absurdity of Dunn having a lethal weapon in his car that he can produce on a rage-filled whim? It’s a grimly absorbing watch.
