The injustice surrounding the shooting death of 15-year-old Latasha Harlins at a South-Central Los Angeles store became a flashpoint for the city’s 1992 civil uprising. As the Black community expressed its profound pain in the streets, Latasha’s friends and family privately mourned the loss of a vibrant child whose full story was never in the headlines.
Nearly three decades later, director Sophia Nahli Allison’s A Love Song for Latasha removes Latasha from the context of her death and rebuilds an archive of a promising life lost. Oral history and memories from Latasha’s best friend and cousin converge in a dreamlike portrait that shows the impact one brief but brilliant life can have.
The documentary could not be more relevant in these times.
A Love Song for Latasha is available to stream now on Netflix.