The finale to FX’s hit show Snowfall’s third season aired last Wednesday. This final episode was highly anticipated as the previous episode left audiences with the ultimate cliffhanger: what would be main character Franklin Saint’s outcome after he had been shot several times. From the teaser showing what next week’s episode would be, it’s hard to tell if Franklin survives or what his physical and mental state will be and how that will impact the people around him. The final episode began with an alternate reality of Franklin’s life, showing both what could have been and, apparently, that a life of crime is seemingly inescapable. As the episode returns to the present-day, Franklin is still alive but very injured and seems to be out of the game. The community around him, however, seems to have experienced the most change. With Franklin, who had a stronghold on the drug and gang activity in his community, injured, violence overtook the area.
This unfortunate space Franklin’s community found itself in was the culmination of the changes that occurred during the entire season and the two previous ones. As Franklin and his team grew, the community declined. This dichotomy was one of the more interesting parts of the series. Audiences root for Franklin in every situation. Seeing a hard-working and intelligent young, black man rise above the societal status he was born into and creating something better for himself and those around him is commendable and inspirational. However, it cannot be denied that with Franklin’s success, there are more drug-addicted citizens, more abandoned children, and more dead bodies on the streets.
Negativity, violence, and in-fighting bubbled over on the season finale during one of the most powerful scenes I have seen on the show to date. A drive-by shooting within the community ends with many young men killed. In the midst of children running and hiding, mothers grieving over the fallen, and groups of men and boys arming themselves in search of revenge, Franklin’s uncle Jerome stands horrified at the chaos his community has descended into. As this horror unfolded, the iconic song “Strange Fruit” played. The song, first performed by Billie Holiday in 1959, was originally meant to describe the violence, specifically lynchings, committed against black Americans by racist whites during this time period. However, I do believe the song is just as applicable during this scene on Snowfall. In the scene, one group in the community was making “strange fruit” of another. They committed an act of violence against beautiful black bodies and left them out to rot. While the motivation was not racism, there was still a form of hate present that allowed such cruelty to be enacted.
While Snowfall is a fictional show set decades ago, these acts still happen today. Every day it seems there is yet another act of violence on the news. And it is understandable that many feel hopeless. But I do believe giving into hopelessness is exactly what hate and violence wants our community to do. While Snowfall did show pain and hurt, it also showed family, love, and ambition, cornerstones of our community. It is important that we rise above the same harm that outside groups commit against us and our communities. Just like the finale episode of Snowfall showed a “what if” alternate reality of Franklin’s life, we can ask our own selves “what if”. What if we ended the generational pain and trauma that manifests itself in violence against one another? What if “strange fruit” was just a beautiful and haunting song from the past and not an unfortunate reality? What if we helped create more options and opportunities in our communities so that our young people didn’t have to make these hard decisions about which path to choose? What if we demanded our local, state, and national political leaders care for and protect us with equal passion as they do other groups?
What if?
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