A Love Song for Latasha

A LOVE SONG FOR LATASHA is a 19-minute documentary by Sophia Nahli Allison that appeared in the short films section of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Her subject is Latasha Harlins, a South Central Los Angeles Black teenager who went to the store in her neighborhood in 1991 to buy orange juice and was shot in the back of the head by the shopkeeper who claimed Harlins was trying to steal. According to the documentary, Harlins was holding the two dollars for purchasing the juice in her hand when she was killed. Thirty years later, close friends are still devastated by the senseless violence that took their extraordinary friend from them. One remembers facing rampant racism at every turn, wondering what name she would be called next and what store she would be chased out of for no reason.