Interviews

Presented by Spike Lee and directed and produced by Nate Parker, “American Skin” is all about changing the narrative

After witnessing his son murdered by a white police officer who goes uncharged, Marine veteran Lincoln ‘Linc’ Jefferson takes justice into his own hands in a series of events he hopes will finally lead to justice for his son. Disillusioned by the fact he was denied a fair trial for the death of his only son, Lincoln desperately takes the matter into his own hands in a series of events he hopes will finally lead to justice for his son. American Skin stars Nate Parker as Lincoln “Linc” Jefferson, Omari Hardwick as Derwood, Shane Paul Mcghie as Jordin, Beau Knapp as Officer Randall, Theo Rossi as Sgt. Reyes, and Milauna Jackson as Tayana.

After the death of Michael Brown in 2014, Nate Parker traveled to Ferguson to gain clarity of the tensions between law enforcement and young men and women on color.

The most tragic moment of this trip arrived when I stood downtown between two infuriated groups of citizens. From one side came yells of ‘Justice for Mike Brown’ and on the other ‘Support Our Police’. It became clear to me, instantly, the disconnect in our understanding of citizenship, law enforcement, and our responsibility to preserve American life.  As an American citizen, father, brother, son and artist, I felt compelled to use my platform as a filmmaker to respond to this crisis in a way that could not only promote social equity, but initiate a global culture shift that can result in the preservation of lives. If saving one life is the only thing this film achieves, it will have served its core purpose

Nate Parker

Nate Parker developed American Skin with the hopes of challenging the system of oppression by developing much needed dialogue between law enforcement and community members of color in the arena of public discourse. American Skin explores the divides created by history, politics, and the media, which oftentimes create toxic communications between American citizens.

My hope is that this dialogue will not only create healing within these broken relationships, but will serve as preventative maintenance, by conditioning both sides to take a necessary beat, which can in turn save a life. By tackling difficult issues such as race, fear, and cultural division, we can set a course toward genuine racial healing

Nate Parker

About Nate Parker

Director, actor, screenwriter, producer and humanitarian Nate Parker has focused much of his life and career on addressing social injustice and creating content that addresses disparities for marginalized communities around the world. He first received critical attention for his starring role in The Great Debaters opposite Director/Actor Denzel Washington and Forest Whitaker.

Nate later played the lead role in George Lucas’ Red Tails, whose supporting cast included Terrence Howard and Cuba Gooding, Jr.  In addition to starring in the Spike Lee–directed Red Hook Summer, Nate generated critical acclaim for his performance in Arbitrage with Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon and Tim Roth.  Nate played the leading role opposite Gugu Mbatha Raw in Beyond the Lights, for which he was nominated for an NAACP Image Award.

Nate’s directorial debut, Birth of a Nation, won the 2016 Sundance Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award while shattering the record for the highest acquisition price ever paid at Sundance.  A Norfolk, Virginia native, Nate grew up less than 30 miles from the site of Nat Turner’s unprecedented slave rebellion upon which the film is based. For his work on Birth of a Nation, he received the Sundance Institute’s Vanguard Award, among others.

Nate has received an honorary Doctorate from Wiley College in Marshall, Texas—the school upon which the true story The Great Debaters was based – where he also founded the Nate Parker Summer Film Institute to guide the next generation of black filmmakers. To date, over one hundred students have graduated from the program.

I recently had the chance to sit down with cast members to discuss American Skin

When Nate contacted me about being a media outlet for American Skin, I was excited and honored to have a person of such a high caliber interested in my platform. He told me he loved my content and voice, which is the highest honor I could receive as an accidental activist/journalist and content creator. You can watch my exclusive interview with Shane Paul Mcghie, Vanessa Bell Calloway, and Sierra Capri on our Roku channel.