When we decry the repeated narrative of black slavery and trauma through film, we must also consider the recent and highly anticipated biopic of Jeffrey Dahmer in Netflix. Why? Because most of his victims were people of color.
The victim’s sister Errol Lindsey, rita isbellshared his thoughts on the show in an essay with Insider.
Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Storydirected by Ryan Murphy, features a recreation of Isbell’s victim’s explosive impact testimony as she addressed the monster that killed her brother. She said that she wrote what she wanted to say, but at the time, it was a whole new ball game. “I was face to face with pure evil”, wrote. She wasn’t afraid of him, but she said her anger flared because he wasn’t looking at her. Seeing the replay of the moment on television was shocking.
“When I saw part of the program, it bothered me, especially when I saw myself, when I saw my name on the screen and this lady saying word for word exactly what I said”he wrote via Insider.
“If I didn’t know better, I would have thought it was me. Her hair was like mine, she had the same clothes. That’s why she wanted to relive it all again. He brought back all the emotions I was feeling back then.”
A user of Twitter who identified himself as a relative of Isbell shared the same disturbed reaction to the viral comparison of the original footage from Isbell’s testimony and the reenactment. The video has gathered nearly 10 million views.
In her essay, Isbell said that Netflix he did not contact her to discuss that part of the show or how she and her family felt about doing it. Even though the show resurfaced some of her trauma, she said that she is now more emotionally healthy to deal with it.
“I’m still learning to forgive, even if I don’t understand, and get on with my life. I can’t change other people or things that have happened. I can only change myself.”wrote.
More from Isbell’s essay via Insider:
Errol will always be alive in my spirit. And then his daughter. I have to keep him alive so I can talk about him with her.
The positive that came out of this is that the world didn’t know that my brother had children. That has never been discussed in public, but he had impregnated someone before his death. He is exactly 31 years old today and this happened 31 years ago.
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