‘Sinners’ Is Set in Clarksdale, But Residents Are Fighting to Get a Screening

The Mississippi town that serves as the setting for Ryan Coogler’s box office hit doesn’t have a movie theater, leading locals to petition for a public viewing.

(Courtesy of Warner Bros.)

In Gullah Geechee communities, a "tell-it" was a designated lookout, community warning system and the most trusted source for news and information. The Tell-It Report is ContrabandCamp’s weekly roundup of the Black stories that deserve more attention — from politics to entertainment.

While the rest of us are talking about Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners,” Clarksdale, the city where it is set, doesn’t even have a movie theater. And residents are doing something about it. Native Tyler Yarbrough started a petition to get the town a free public screening.

Meanwhile, in Montgomery, Alabama, legendary attorney Fred Gray, whom Martin Luther King Jr. called “the chief counsel” of the Civil Rights Movement, was honored with a life-sized statue.

But the worst of the week: Atlanta city officials commemorated the opening of Cop City, a surefire pipeline for more police militarization, on Tuesday.

Read more about these stories below:

Clarkdale native launches petition for “Sinners” screening in theater-less town

Clarksdale residents have to commute more than an hour if they want to see “Sinners,” the No. 1 film at the box office, which is set in their town. That’s because they haven’t had a movie theater in their city since 2003.

Tyler Yarbrough, a 26-year-old native, wants to change that. On Monday, he launched a petition for his hometown to get a free public screening of the film. The petition also invites director Ryan Coogler, star Michael B. Jordan and the rest of the cast and crew to visit Clarksdale and “walk the streets your vision reimagined.”

“We would also be honored to collaborate with you to host a public screening and celebration here in Clarksdale,” Yarbrough wrote in the petition. “A homecoming not just for the film, but for the history, culture, and future that continue to define our city and to connect Mississippi creatives with you and your work.”

At publication, the petition had collected more than 4,600 signatures, with 2,000 of those signatures coming in the first 48 hours.

Yarbrough told ContrabandCamp that he was “overjoyed” that the film, which has made over $161 million globally, depicted his hometown so accurately. “This is my history,” he said, recalling the elders in his lineage who told him about the Black and Chinese-operated stores they grew up supporting like in the film. But Clarksdale has seen plenty of businesses shutter, leaving a gap in access to certain resources and entertainment.

In 2003, Delta Cinema, the sole theater in town, closed. In the predominantly Black town of 14,000 residents with a median income of $35,000, it is difficult for many to go out of their way to see the film, noted Aallyah Wright of Capital B, which first reported the news of the petition.

Yarbrough saw the film in Memphis, an hour and a half drive from Clarksdale. He knew, however, that not every Clarksdale resident had the means to travel for a film. In speaking with his friends who also saw the film, Yarbrough took on the task of pushing for a screening.

“There’s a desire to give folks that opportunity to see it and take pride in it, but also really just to further the conversation,” Yarbrough told ContrabandCamp.

He believes that this could be a good opportunity for the community’s history and businesses, including juke joints, churches, farms and cultural and economic hubs, to get the support they need.

Yarbrough is working with a few organizations on a location for the screening, listing Cumberland County Expo Center, a local community college and the New Roxy Theater — a former movie theater that’s now a music venue – as potential options. As the petition gets more attention, Yarbrough grows more hopeful that Clarkdale will get its screening. Though nothing is set in stone, he’s currently in talks with someone close to the film who is hoping to connect him with Warner Bros. Studios, which released the film.

Yarbrough said he appreciates that the film honors Clarksdale’s contribution to history and the blues. He said he hopes that more of the South’s untold stories get revealed to instill a deeper pride in Black American history and culture.

“It's about our shared story, our shared identity, and keeping that fabric intact. And sometimes I worry that is dying,” he said. “[There’s] healing that needs to happen for [Clarksdale] to get where it needs to be. There needs to be some honoring of this land and people and our ancestors, too.”

Fred Gray, attorney to civil rights leaders, honored with a statue

Fred Gray, the legendary attorney who represented civil rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr., John Lewis, Claudette Colvin and Rosa Parks, was honored with a statue outside of the Alabama Bar Association in Montgomery last Thursday, the Associated Press reports.

“Growing up in Montgomery on the west side, I never thought that one day my image would be in stone to honor my professional career,” the 94-year-old said during a speech at the statue unveiling, surrounded by family and friends.

The life-sized statue was sculpted by Steven Whyte, according to WSFA. It depicts Gray seated on a bench with his arm outstretched across the back. In his left hand, he holds a folder affixed with the state bar’s logo. It is also engraved with his famed words, “lawyers render service.”

“I humbly accept this award for all those unknown heroes and clients whose names never appear in print media, whose faces never appear on television. They are the persons who laid the foundation so that you can honor me here today,” Gray said, according to the AP.

Gray was dubbed the “chief counsel” of the Civil Rights Movement by King. Gray, who has practiced law in his hometown for 70 years, helped organize the Montgomery Bus Boycott and was the lead attorney on the landmark 1956 case Browder v. Gayle, which deemed segregation on public transportation unconstitutional. He represented activists in the Selma-to-Montgomery marches. He also represented victims of the Tuskegee syphilis study.

“I wasn’t the one talking to the public, but I had to keep the law straight,” Gray told Civil Rights Trail. “It was my responsibility that everything they did was legal.”

Gray, who received the Presidential Medal of Honor in 2022, is still a practicing attorney. In 2021, he filed a lawsuit demanding the removal of a Confederate monument from a square in the mostly Black city of Tuskegee.

“My goal was to see that African Americans had all of the rights and privileges as all other citizens of the United States,” he told Civil Rights Trail. “The struggle for equal justice under the law continues, and I’m still at it.”

“Cop City” opens in Atlanta after years of protest

Atlanta’s Public Safety Training Center, dubbed by activists as “Cop City,” opened with a celebratory ribbon cutting ceremony on Tuesday despite years of widespread protest and community opposition.

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens lambasted protester efforts to stop the project in a speech during the ceremony, stating that officials had to overcome lies and “very real violence.”

“Our perseverance to see it through for the people of Atlanta now and for the future cannot be denied,” he said.

The estimated $118 million facility takes up 85 acres in Dekalb County, WABE reports. The facility will serve as a place for the city’s police department and fire department to train for emergency situations. It features burn buildings, horse stables, a K-9 center, a driving course, virtual reality training tools and a six-story rescue tower, Fox 5 Atlanta reports.

Controversy has surrounded Cop City since the idea was introduced in the wake of George Floyd’s killing in 2020. Residents and organizers have raised concerns about the environmental damage from clearing the city’s largest green space, the militarization of policing and other harmful effects on the community.

People’s Campaign to Stop Cop City said in a statement, “While Cop City drains millions from the city’s budget, Atlanta’s real emergencies are growing worse: affordable housing is becoming increasingly scarce, the unhoused population grows daily and vital city workers face layoffs.”

Residents fought for a referendum vote, which remained in an appeals court until Feb. 2025 when the project was nearly finished.

During a Jan. 2023 protest, task force police killed Manuel “Tortuguita” Terán, a 26-year-old environmental activist. No officers have been charged in his killing and Terán’s family has filed a lawsuit against a Georgia investigator and two state troopers alleging excessive force, unlawful arrest and retaliation against political speech, according to Fox 5 Atlanta.

Local activist Micah Herskind wrote on X, “Cop City is officially opening today, made possible only through extreme state violence –– including the murder of Tortuguita, clearcutting of forest land, and mass criminalization of protestors.”

Protesters held a block party on Tuesday at the Jackson Street Bridge to stand against Cop City’s opening. They told the Atlanta Community Press Collective that their fight against Cop City is not over.

“It’s never too late — I remain hopeful in what the power of the people is able to accomplish,” Mary Hooks of the Movement for Black Lives and the Cop City Vote Coalition told the publication. “Who knows what will happen over the years? Because I believe there will be a changing of the guard in this city, and somebody with some good sense will eventually come into office and be right and make good on what this city was supposed to do.”