On Mar. 2, Janean Watkins and NEIU’s Adult and Women Student Programs sponsored the screening of, The Silencing of Girl’s of Color, A Dream Deferred “The Sakia Gunn Film Project.” The documentary, produced and directed by Charles Brack, was about a 15-year-old lesbian who was murdered as a result of a hate crime. On the night of May 11, 2003, while waiting for the number 1 New Jersey bus in Manhattan, Sakia Gunn and her friend were approached by two men who made sexual advances toward them. Gunn and her friend rejected their advances and told the men that they were lesbians.
Shortly after Gunn and her friend stated their sexual orientations, the two men attacked them. One of the attackers was Richard McCullough, who fought and fatally stabbed Gunn in the chest. After turning himself in to authorities and entering a plea bargain in which the murder charges were dropped, McCullough was sentenced on April 21, 2003 to 20 years in prison on lesser charges of aggravated manslaughter, aggravated assault and bias intimidation. The documentary showcased both the life and the death of Gunn, who was an A student, who shared dreams with her cousin, Valencia, about one day making it out of the area in which they lived to one day live in a better neighborhood.
The documentary also showed the effect that Gunn’s death had on her family and friends by showing the actual court proceedings, in which Gunn’s grief- stricken family and friends expressed to the court as well as to Gunn’s murderer, McCullough, the grief that her death caused.
The documentary also showed how Gunn’s community came together for a memorial dedicated to her. People in the community also showed their support by going to Gunn’s funeral, where more than 2,500people were reported to have shown up. Gunn’s death caused an outrage in the gay and lesbian community, which led to the rallying of Newark’s mayors office in which many demands were made that included, the establishment of a gay and lesbian community center and for police officers to patrol the Newark Penn Station/Broad street corridor (the street on which Gunn was murdered) 24 hours a day.
While the main focus of the documentary showcased Gunn’s murder, the documentary also shed light on other issues, such as the lack of media attention given to crimes that involve minorities as well as the wish of gay and lesbian activists for the violence against gay and lesbians to stop.
Watkins wanted to bring this event to NEIU to educate people and begin a dialogue around gender non-comformity and the lack of media coverage about women of color.