Paramount & BET Drop A Trailer For “Rest in Power: The Trayvon Martin Story” Documentary Series

The Paramount Network, in partnership with Shawn Carter (aka Jay-Z) and Black Entertainment Television, is giving us a six-part documentary series exploring Trayvon Martin’s death at the hands of George Zimmerman. It cites the instance as the birth of the Movement For Black Lives and chronicles the most recent and inflammatory race divide in the US. If the series is documenting the birth of the MBL alongside the Zimmerman trial, I am curious about who is telling the story and what the goal might be at such a volatile time in the nation.

  The trailer opens with a worried 911 call from Trayvon’s father, Tracy. The trailer goes from zero to lightspeed showing emotional imagery coupled with blistering bars from Black Thought of The Legendary Roots Crew. From photos of the crime scene to the audio of Zimmerman’s 911 call as he stalked Trayvon home. Voiceovers from Black Lives activists, NBA All-Star Carmelo Anthony, and testimony from Trayvon’s own mother, Sybrina Fulton. The trailer pulls no punches and paints a very clear picture for its audience. It also leaves a glaring question on the mind of the viewer: If this clear-cut trial yielded no justice under Obama, where is it to be found in our divided country, under its present administration?

As a media critic, I gotta wonder if BET/Paramount Network can deliver the series with the nuance this discussion requires. Truly, the decision making at the network went from Spike TV (frat-boy demographic) to Esquire (frat-boy tur…