Sean Gallagher's 72-minute documentary, BROTHERS OF THE BLACK LIST explores the poorly-handled investigation into the claim of an elderly white female that she was raped by a black man. Her report that the rapist had cut his hand during the crime led to a weird interrogation of SUNY Oneonta's black male student community, with police officers tracking them down and asking them all to show their hands.

Brothers of the Black List (Official Trailer) from Sean Gallagher on Vimeo.

From the film, it was depressing to see how the police approached its investigation of the young SUNY Oneonta undergraduates and how events quickly got out of hand. Despite spirited non-violent protests carried out by the community's residents - black and white - and students from neighbouring universities, neither the police nor the school's highest administrative authorities, which supplied the list of names, budged. It almost seemed like the boys had been convicted long before the crime was committed. This was not surprising given SUNY Oneanta's history with its multi-cultural and multi-racial background.

Back in 1969, students had protested the school's exclusion of black students, counselors and professors from its community, a protest that would change - but not significantly - the school's programme for its diverse student body.
As for the controversial investigation of 1992, the police tried to exonerate themselves by saying they had good intentions, and wanted to wrap up the case as quickly as possible, their action(s) rather inserted concepts of institutional and perhaps, unwitting racism into public discourse where they will be very difficult to dislodge. It would also inhibit clear thought on race relations and race-related issues.
All through BROTHERS OF THE BLACK LIST, you get the impression that had the ‘victim' been ‘black', the police and possibly the school's highest authorities would have immediately swept the whole thing under the carpet as an unresolved case or gone about the entire investigation differently.

More than twenty years later, Professor Edward ‘Bo' Whaley, one of the film's interviewees, still gets emotional each time he talks about the Blacklist incident. At a point, he starts cursing and simultaneously sheds tears just before he gets up and walks off the set.
Gallagher's film throws up a number of theories and suggestions: by concentrating on the racial aspect of the reported rape case, attention was diverted from the real lessons of the inquiry, especially an urgent need to improve the quality of the Oneonta police department services for all residents irrespective of wealth or racial background.

by Wome Uyeye

Paper first published in The Irep Report - 2014 iREP Newsletter Vol. 2, p. 3, reprint courtesy of Goethe Institut Lagos & Irep.