Layne Evans

I said “I loved this” when I rated this documentary. Not because I loved the story or found it entertaining in anyway, but because it was a story that needed to be told. My heart breaks for this family. I cried for the last half of the film. What a world we live in, that someone so evil can live among us freely, and take a precious, beautiful, and needed life in an instant. I can relate through my empathy as a mother. I feel sure that I would have acted the same way or very closely the same. And I would never, in my wildest dreams, have imagined that what happened to Ajike would be my fate, as I’m sure she didn’t believe such a deadly intention awaited her. And I can try to understand, through my own fear of leaving my children in this world without me, how devastating all this must be for their entire family and community. I hope her children can someday look back and let the greatness of their mother’s love eclipse the pain and loss they must surely feel so sharply now, caused by one soulless woman’s hate. I rated it “I loved this” because she was found guilty and sent to prison, where she can no longer persecute young children or violently end another amazing mother who was simply standing up for her kids in a very reasonable and nonviolent way. I also rated this film as I did because it shed light on the inexcusable prejudice in which the STAND YOUR GROUND law operates! The fact that the statistics shown at the end of the film are known and still exist is absolutely unforgivable. I can barely begin to imagine how that family felt! I’ll never know the struggles they face because a small pigment in their exterior is different than mine and the unfairness it creates in such an ignorant world. We are all made the same. There IS NO DIFFERENCE between us if you look from the inside out! My heart goes out to Isaac, Israel, Afrika and Titus. I hope they hold on to and love each other, as their mother surely would if she could have stayed longer. And I hope more films like this one, share true stories that can open the eyes of those who would keep them shut.