The Education of Sonny Carson 1974

A Sonny Carson is a young Black American teenager who, along with three friends, plans to break into a local market to steal food and money. He is subdued by the police and, at just thirteen years old, is sentenced to three months in custody. While behind bars, he meets Willie, the leader of a local gang called the Lords, and is initiated into the gang.

Years pass, and an older Sonny is deeply entrenched in gang life, caught in a bitter rivalry between the Lords and the Tomahawks, also known as the Hawks. During one clash, a fellow Lord named Li’l Boy is fatally wounded by a stiletto. Sonny and the Lords attend Li’l Boy’s wake; as they depart, they notice Sonny attempting to buy a bouquet from a nearby shop, but he cannot afford it. He then robs a white man who carries a telegram with $100, using the money to buy the flowers and place them on Li’l Boy’s casket.

For this crime Sonny is arrested and brutalized by the police during interrogation. He is sentenced to one to three years in prison. While incarcerated, Sonny unexpectedly reunites with Willie, who teaches him about the harsh realities of prison life. Sonny’s father, Pops, visits him in prison, letting Sonny know that he and his family remain supportive.

The brutality of the guards and the harshness of prison life quickly become evident to Sonny. In one instance, Willie is beaten nearly to death by the guards as Sonny watches. Willie tells Sonny that he can no longer endure such treatment. That night, Willie is forcibly dragged from his cell by the guards, tossed over the railing, and falls to his death. Sonny, deeply affected by his time inside, serves out the remainder of his sentence and returns to his family.

Back outside, Sonny tries to reestablish connections with his former gang members, but discovers that the drug trade has claimed the lives of many of his friends. With a renewed purpose, Sonny fights the drug trade under a new alias, Mwlina Lmiri Abubadika. The film ends in the 1970s, long before Abubadika’s controversial involvement in New York City politics.