Man on Fire

One town's racism. One preacher's sacrifice.

Grand Saline, Texas, was a sleepy, unremarkable town—until a white preacher lit himself on fire to protest the town's racism in 2014. The subject of this film is deceptively straightforward: A minister commits suicide by setting himself on fire. He leaves behind a letter that frames his decision as a religious response to the intolerable racism of America's past and present, particularly in his Texas hometown. The aftermath is befuddling: There are townspeople who can recall incidents of racial violence and hate speech, and those who have never seen anything of the kind. Black folk in surrounding towns who share rumors and fears about acts of violence, and white folk who say you can't believe everything you hear. Fellow ministers who share the desire to be liberated from a racist past, and churchgoers who believe only mental illness could explain such a suicide.

Documentary

You Might Also Like

  • The Price of Protest
  • Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America
  • Killing the Indian in the Child
  • Hands on a Hardbody: The Documentary
  • Rise Again: Tulsa and the Red Summer
  • El apagón: Aquí vive gente
  • The Big One
  • Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing
  • The Blinding of Isaac Woodard
  • Black Ice
  • When a City Rises
  • LA 92
  • Joe Louis: America's Hero Betrayed
  • White Riot
  • Jean-Michel Basquiat, artiste absolu
  • Let It Fall: Los Angeles 1982-1992
  • L.A. Burning: The Riots 25 Years Later
  • VH1 News Special: Inside Hate Rock
  • There's Something in the Water
  • The Fog of War