'St. Louis Superman' is Nominated for an Oscar & Ferguson Activist are Dying

Last week, ‘St. Louis Superman’, a documentary based on the life of Bruce Franks Jr., landed an Oscar nomination (watch trailer below)! This was exciting news for Franks, the people who support him, and anyone excited about the many exciting things coming out of St. Louis (MO, USA) recently.

Alas, all of the excitement surrounding the documentary and it’s most recent accolade made me think of the many terrible things that have happened, and are still happening in the city [post-Ferguson]. Particularly the harassment of known activist, and the mysterious deaths of more than 10 people involved in the Ferguson protests / activism. Perhaps the most mysterious of those; Darren Seals and DeAndre Joshua.

Edward Crawford Jr., returns a tear gas canister fired by police. Photographed by Robert Cohen/St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Although two years apart, the bodies of both Seals and Joshua were found burned inside of torched vehicles. Gunshot wounds were the cause of both of their deaths, and each of their cases remain unsolved.

Other death’s were ruled as very peculiar suicides, while countless other activist admit to having received threatening messages on social media, and even at their homes!

Because of St. Louis’ alarming homicide rate, many officials don’t rule out foul play, but have yet to find anything close to a “culprit”.

Franks himself even resigned from the legislature so that he could deal with the recent deaths of his best friend and godson, after never fully healing from the events that unraveled during - and as a result of the death of Mike Brown / Ferguson.

The cynic in me knows that even if these deaths are revealed as apart of some government operation (or what have you), that there will still be no justice. Only a film, or a documentary. My hope is that the buzz around this film creates a bigger conversation of the need for real change in our current government structure / system. A system where, at the very least, people aren’t silenced for speaking their truth.

The film, directed by Smriti Mundhra and Sami Khan, was bought by Sheila Nevins after she saw it at the Tribeca Film festival last April. It is the first Oscar nomination ever for MTV Documentary Films. Watch the trailer below.