![]() Though he was sentenced to life in prison in 2000, the global success of “Serial” led to widespread concern that he had been unfairly convicted and calls that the case should be reexamined. Syed was a teen in high school when he was accused, and eventually convicted, of the 1999 murder of his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee. His case was little known outside of Baltimore until journalist Sarah Koenig (who I worked alongside in the late 1990s at the Baltimore Sun) took up his cause for the 2014 podcast “Serial.” ![]() The case of Adnan Syed is a reminder that investigative journalism can be a powerful tool – and can change people’s lives. “Half of this kingdom and its people (were) wanting to abolish being a part of the trade and the other half (were) wanting to keep it because it gave them their wealth.” With the movie’s focus on the Agojie, she explained, she was able to “use these women as that voice of wanting to change.”Īdnan Syed smiles and waves as he leaves the courthouse after a judge overturned his 2000 murder conviction and ordered a new trial during a hearing at the Baltimore City Circuit Courthouse on September 19. “It was the knowledge that at the time that we’re setting this, that the kingdom was at a crossroads,” director Gina Prince-Bythewood said in a recent interview with Vox. The controversy was a reminder to me of how social media has all too often encouraged people to get up in arms about so many things without having enough information to make an informed decision. The film topped the box office during its opening weekend, but even before “The Woman King” was released, there were calls for a boycott of the movie over concerns about how it would (or would not) address Dahomey rulers selling their enemies, fellow Africans, into slavery. Viola Davis stars in one of the best films I have seen this year, playing the leader of the Agojie, an all-female group of warriors who for hundreds of years protected the West African kingdom of Dahomey. Viola Davis stars in "The Woman King." Ilze Kitshoff/Sony Pictures
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