Since you first emailed me this
“Is it really that difficult for you to conceive that someone could watch FOX and also watch PBS?”

My original response to you was this
Is it really so difficult for someone to use that giant comment section instead of emailing so that everybody can see a person’s wonderfully insightful rhetorical question?

Next, my quote from the article is “I don’t think any FOX News viewers will ever see/care about this film.” That comment about or FOX news viewers watching PBS; it’s my opinion that Fox viewers probably not being particularly invested in this issue. Do you honestly believe the majority of FOX news viewers are going to be moved by this topic? Do you really believe that? However just so you know; demographic AND Neilson ratings have shown that those viewing bodies don’t have a lot of overlap, but no stats account for every single human being, so I guess you’re one of the few and the proud; give yourself a pat on the back.

And lastly, the fact that you possibly saw the film, possibly visited the PBS site and read the comments AND came and (mis)read my article and the only thing you felt compelled to talk about was the FOX issue gives a lot of weight to the tunnel vision nature of FOX people.
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But Martin that’s all in the past, since you did make your way over to the comment section and have something to say about the content of the article’s topic I’m feeling a little more inclined to give some additional thoughts about the film. Plus I had a chance to look over something I wrote 7-8 months ago and fix a few of the spelling errors.

So OK, when I originally wrote this piece I was going to include a list of movies I could think of OFF THE TOP MY HEAD that I felt addressed the issue not only a while back but in some cases better. But those notes are gone, so I’m right this second making up a new list, check it out;

Gangsta King: Raymond Lee Washington 2003
Gang Wars – pt. 1 1994!!!!
Gang Wars – pt. 2
Bastards Of The Party 2005
C-Walk: It’s a Way of Livin’ 2003

and on TV
Gangland, season 1 episode 18 – The L.A. Crips ‘Crip or Die’
American Gangster on BET Season 2006

From Goddamn Holland in Dutch
Crips, Strapped ‘n Strong 2009, yes it was made after Peralta’s movie but it goes deeper.

Honestly, I think the movie Colors from 1988 covered this ground with as much insight and that was TWENTY TWO years ago.

So to recap
It’s not about so much me making a movie. It’s about guy with a lot of resources AND a native of the city doing a SUPER simplistic paint-by-numbers movies. I refer you to that long list of hack tricks I point out above in the article. That’s why I say in the piece “if I had had access to Peralta before this project was done it would not have looked like this when the finished product was done,” because I would have stopped him from going down that well worn road and MADE him watch all those other movies first and said to him “ok, what can we add to this conversation that doesn’t tell the same old story. What’s our goal? To change things or to inform? If we’re informing what are we getting across that hasn’t already been said?” Things along those lines. Really, just plain old rudimentary shit.

However, I am interested to hear how YOUR documentary would have looked.