ABSTRACT
The month was January; the year, 1995. A movie called Higher Learning opened on the Wednesday preceding the Martin Luther King holiday weekend. Described by the Boston Globe as a “combustible new campus drama” by Boyz’n the Hood director John Singleton (Carr, 1995), the movie sparked mixed reviews, gunfire, and fist fights. In a suburb of Washington, D.C., a 21-year-old was fatally shot in an apparent drive-by shooting after leaving an afternoon screening of the film. In Canton, Ohio, teens started brawling at the Canton Centre Mall following a sold-out Saturday night showing. It took 20 police officers to break up the ruckus. In Michigan and Illinois, there was more of the same (Evans & Busch, 1995).
