The Education of Sonny Carson [DVD]

Based on a best-selling autobiography by outspoken activist Sonny Carson (Mwalamu Imiri Abubadika), "The Education of Sonny Carson" is a thoughtful and sensitive film about the early life of a ghetto youngster who falls into a life of gangs and petty crime. Rap and hip hop artists, most notably Wu-Tang Clan and Lauren Hill, continue to refer to the movie in their works. Sonny Carson (Rony Clanton) struggles to survive in Brooklyn's toughest section. The film begins with Sonny garnering honors as the best student in his junior high school, then reveals his transformation into a gangster. Soon, he enters prison for robbing a delivery boy out of $25 to buy flowers for a friend killed in a gang war. After Sonny is released from prison, he returns home to find his best girl hooked on drugs. He realizes that his life won't change unless he rises above the violence, crime, and unrest of his urban environment.