An Answer…

…but not to the Greg Monroe question.

The Answer, Allen Iverson, is the subject of “No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson,” a documentary that aired on ESPN last night.  The titular trial arose out of a brawl at a bowling alley while Iverson was in high school in Hampton, Virginia.  While Iverson’s involvement in that brawl remains in dispute, he and three friends were convicted of a violating a statute that penalized participants in a “mob.”  Both the factual details and the only video of the incident are unclear at best, but, at the trial, three white witnesses who had suffered injuries testified that Iverson and friends, all African-American, were responsible.  Iverson received a 15-year sentence, of which he ended up serving several months before then-Governor Douglas Wilder granted him conditional clemency.

Iverson is only part of the story of “No Crossover.”  The larger story, as told by Steve James, who previously made “Hoop Dreams” and who, like Iverson, hails from Hampton, is the way in which Iverson’s trial brought racial tensions in the larger Hampton community to the surface.  “No Crossover” takes seriously both the views of the African-American community (“views,” as the film reveals some disagreement between African Americans regarding the trial) and those of the white community.   James brings to this story a keen interest in and empathy for the human actors  much as he did to those of William Gates and Arthur Agee in “Hoop Dreams.”  While Iverson and some other key players apparently declined to participate in the documentary, the Answer is present throughout, in contemporary interviews and those given in the years since.  There is little about Iverson’s Georgetown days, but that’s not really the point, either.

Overall, the film was insightful, excellent, and highly recommended.

There are several clips related to the movie here, and you can watch a preview below: