'Black and Blue' Sheds Light on the Smeared Color of Corruption

There is a fine, yet ever-so-dividing line between being a police officer and being a black police officer in a predominately black area. Even with good intentions, it is almost impossible for an officer of color to adorn his or her blackness with the blue uniform.

“You’re not one of them anymore - you’re blue.”

Those were the words of a corrupt black police officer that let me know I was sitting in the right theater this Saturday afternoon. Finally I thought, ‘a fair and accurate narrative about the corruption of color in law enforcement.’

Naomie Harris plays Alicia West, a rookie cop from New Orleans. After two tours of duty in Afghanistan and a decorated record, she returns to her hometown. According to her, she stopped viewing people as good and bad - and just started seeing human beings trying to figure out life. Armed with her training and an open-mind, she is unnerved to realize that her community no longer welcomes her as a black woman, but now only sees her as “one of them in blue.”

This realization has played out in the most uncomfortable of fashions in America recently. Good cops are remaining silent about bad cop behavior. Black officers are “backing the blue” as black lives are so casually taken by trigger-happy white officers. West goes against that grain, and proves to be an officer who still sees value in the black people written off by a troubled police department.

“Black and Blue” is incredibly timely and relevant.

There are dirty cops, conspiring with drug dealers and then effortlessly plotting to frame others when their schemes are compromised. West stumbles upon such a heinous transaction that leaves three black men dead. The entire ordeal is captured on her body camera and she immediately becomes the enemy. In an instance she is no longer backed by the blue. Her only ally proves to be a neighborhood grocery store clerk named Milo “Mouse” Jackson, played by actor Tyrese Gibson.

This film is complete with racial innuendos, community politics and undertones of reality in current-America. Harris carries the film with her pure grit and telling eyes. Although on the big screen, her commanding role brings a great sense of urgency to an issue that has unfortunately been normalized in our society.

Rating: A -