“American Violet” (2009) is a film based on the true story of an American woman framed for selling drugs. A waitress and mother of four, she goes up against the powerful district attorney, the county government’s top lawyer, to get the charges dropped – a David and Goliath story.
It shows how across America the police and the courts use drug laws to look tough on crime and keep down blacks.
The film is very upsetting but very good – far better than “Precious”, which many white people and Oprah seem to think was the best black film that year.
Unlike “Precious” the pathologies are white not black: it is not poor black people who are screwed up but respected white men who are either too power-hungry or too cowardly to stand up for what they know deep down is right and good.
Over and over and over again in America the ills of society are blamed on the most powerless – on blacks and Mexicans, mostly – and rarely, for some strange reason, on the very people who run things, on the people who have the power to make it good or make it bad.
Well, thank the Lord, “American Violet” does not do that. It even manages to present poor blacks like maybe they are ordinary people and not cockroaches or clowns.
Alfre Woodard is in it – she plays the hero’s mother – so I knew it had to be good. Charles S. Dutton, another serious actor I like, played the pastor. Nicole Beharie plays the lead.
Apart from changing all the names and reducing the number of main characters, the film sticks pretty closely to the court case of Regina Kelly v John Paschall – even during the last 15 minutes. Regina Kelly is called Dee Roberts in the film and Hearne, Texas becomes Melody, Texas. The year is 2000.
The district attorney, in order “to keep the town quiet” so that whites re-elect him time and again, regularly runs paramilitary style drug raids on poor black neighbourhoods. The police arrest those the district attorney puts on a list, a list he creates by forcing false eyewitness testimony from someone who faces drug charges himself.
Despite being falsely arrested most on the list wind up accepting a plea bargain to avoid trial where they would likely get 16 to 25 years in prison because they cannot afford a good lawyer. But even so they wind up with a felony on their record, which means they cannot vote or receive public benefits (so they get kicked out of public housing, for example) and finding work becomes next to impossible.
Dee Roberts got on one of those lists because an eyewitness’s cousin was jealous of her. Fortunately for her the ACLU arrived in town just then and offered to fight her case for free. To the ACLU money was not the hard part: it was finding people, both black and white, with enough courage to stand up to the district attorney.
Dee Roberts remains the hero throughout – not some White Saviour lawyer.
See also:
- Trailer: American Violet
- Roger Ebert’s review of “American Violet” – he gets some of the plot wrong and makes it seem like this stuff only goes on in Texas despite what they said in the film. He gives it three stars (“Precious” got four).
- The mass incarceration of black men
- Precious
- White Saviour
- Apple-pie America
- the eight stages of genocide
Sounds interesting. I haven’t seen it yet, but I will.
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I vaguely remember an investigative report which looked at the town about four years ago. It is hard to find follow ups about these kinds of stories. There seems to be to many of these kinds of stories, especially in Texas.
I do think that control over the Negro and the billions the banks make in drug money laundering, will prevent there ever being a serious effort to take the criminality out of drug use.
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About four years ago was when the court case was settled – in 2005.
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This is a movie I’d want to see. I looked up some info of Miss. Regina Kelly (the Dee Robert’s character) and it’s said she had no prior drug record whatsoever. Also, there were no drugs discovered when her place was raided. How could she be charged as a drug dealer?
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Because the testimony of one witness was enough to get you arrested. But it almost never goes to trial with a good defence lawyer because they do not arrest people who can afford good lawyers and they use the threat of a trial to get people to take the plea bargain, which over 90% of them do. It is due process in name only.
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Oh, wow!!! Thanks so much for this, Abagond!!!
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Thanks, abagond. It’s abominable how the DA managed to get away with it for so long. Thank goodness, Miss. Regina Kelly received the help she needed. True criminals belong in prison, not this woman on trumped up charges.
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Thanks for this post. Yay, it’s available for instant streaming on Netflix; I’ll certainly be watching it soon. LOVE Charles S. Dutton (and my father looks just like him, to the point that Mr. Dutton has even been mistaken for my father).
You make some good points about movies like “Precious”. Particularly the point that the powerful entities who create and maintain the stratification that leads to hopeless situations are rendered invisible. Instead, many films choose to focus on the (light/white) teachers, nurses, saviors. The villains are the black/brown like Precious’ mother and father, or the “streets” in movies like “Dangerous Minds”.
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Looks REALLY good. Can’t wait to see it.
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But it almost never goes to trial with a good defence lawyer because they do not arrest people who can afford good lawyers and they use the threat of a trial to get people to take the plea bargain, which over 90% of them do. It is due process in name only.
This happens here in Canada too.
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Looks like someone in my house already viewed this film on netflix, lol. I will be checking this out, and can say that after reading some of the reviews on the site, I will likely blog on the film, and the viewer posts later today. Thanks for pointing this film out to me Abagond, and also thanks Danila for letting me know it was on instant play.
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Good post. I totally agree with your assessment of Precious and for that very reason, I have refused to see it. Same for Sandra Bullock’s The Blind Side. They may be good, true stories but I hate the way they re-inforce the one-sided view of black people. I was shocked that Oprah missed the big picture.
I will definitely see American Violet.
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SW6,
In some cases alibi’s don’t matter. There have many cases where someone has been prosecuted, base on a relative or friend throwing them under a bus to plea themselves. Even when DNA evidence excluded a Black man from being the rapist, the white victim refused to believe it. He had spent years in jail, behind her eyewitness testimony.
The Justice Project has had a greater percentage of those exonerated due to DNA test, of Blacks. The state of Texas is one of their focuses. Just think of the crimes in which no physical evidence is taken or that can be linked. A lot are not hard cases, but result only in having poor representation, confessing or plea bargaining out of fear.
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Never heard of this one, but it’s a must see. Especially since it’s about society and has some strong acting performances.
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Now that’s more my kind of movie, thanks for recommending it Abagond 🙂
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Hathor, it seems to me you can only plea bargain when you in fact have a bargaining chip.
Not so. If you are looking at time. and do not have the money to afford a good lawyer, then you may plea down to lesser time, or probation or such. The prosecutors are after convictions, it looks good on their record. Whether the person get jail time, is moot, as long as they get their conviction. A first time offender may be scared witless. They will take a plea instead of waiting months or years for their case to be resolved. Of course this depends on the severity of their charges. There are also those who plead guilty, because they are guilty. however, they cop a pleas for lesser time as they don’t want to do the time put forth by the prosecutor. In some of these instances, the evidence may not be concrete. The person pleading does not wish to take a chance on conviction however. If you are innocent, and cannot get a good or even competent lawyer, then you can kiss your behind goodbye! Then there are the ‘dump truck’ lawyers, who are expert at pleading someone down…..
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SW6,
Did you see the link embedded in The Justis Project? It will give you an idea of how justice often works. A lot depends on the locale too.
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This was a great movie. It was on BET a couple weeks ago.
A lot of people don’t understand at all but they think they do. It is a known fact that many whites can commit a crime and get lesser sentencing, but things like this happen in the black community on purpose systematically. Maybe this post can shed awareness to someone.
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“The film is very upsetting but very good – far better than “Precious”, which many white people and Oprah seem to think was the best black film that year.”
I saw the movie, still have it actually. I agree it was much better than precious and I made a similar comment to someone about why oprah was giving hype to precious as opposed to this movie, which to me is far better. Another great black movie that didn’t receive its credit was the Lena Baker story, i own that dvd too, for some reason those movies that show bp in a positive light don’t get the oprahesque praise that preciouses do.
here is regina kelly: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWgdCfTXrl8
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I had initially saw an documentary on this story on PBS and later went to see the movie. I enjoyed the movie, it kept close to the truth of what happned. What amazed though was that this DA was able to get away with this, even when it was clear to some of the “white folk” that something was wrong. Didn’t like Alfre Woodard character, but I would not have liked th real person either. I hope that for the few that saw the movie (it was only twelve in the theater when I went to see it) that they took from it the importance to believe in self even when the odds and people around you are telling you not to.
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It’s an excellent movie. It highlights a number of important points, including how a corrupt system like this is created and how, as Agabond notes, it can only be combatted via an act of profound personal courage by one or more of the victims.
It’s important to highlight the mechanics. The police hit squad in the film was created in response to a source of money. Similar hit squads were formed all around the nation. Here in the Twin Cities it was a regional squad, not under the umbrella of any oversight at all, and it occupied its own office. The corruption was so deep that the individual officers freely lined their pockets with the money and goods confiscated from arrestees — big screen TVs, cars, cash, etc.
The money for these squads came from a Clinton era federal program that was part of the so-called “war on drugs.” Under the program, local units got funding based on actual convictions.
As Agabond notes, in virtually 100% of the cases, a plea bargain involves a negotiated conviction. Thus, the machine becomes self-perpetuating, arresting and terrorizing people at will and enjoying continued funding for its bogus “convictions.”
Thus, there was no incentive to attain any form of truth. The incentive was to arrest people will-nilly and coerce plea bargains from them.
Of course, the easy target in virtually every part of the nation was the black community. New organization generally won’t yield column ink to a rise in drug-related arrests in the black community, and without mainstream support, this kind of victimization can go on for a long time unchecked.
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i don’t see how precious was such a bad movie. yeah it was shocking and controversial in it’s own way but i think it was a good movie.
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@ Abagond:
“The film is very upsetting but very good – far better than “Precious”, which many white people and Oprah seem to think was the best black film that year.
Unlike “Precious” the pathologies are white not black: it is not poor black people who are screwed up but respected white men who are either too power-hungry or too cowardly to stand up for what they know deep down is right and good.
I haven’t seen either movie yet, so I’m limited in what I can comment on, but I’m curious: Do you think “American Violet” was a better movie than “Precious” simply because it told you a version of reality that sits more comfortably with you?
Obviously “American Violet” is a true story, and the theme of black people being screwed over by the rich and powerful is clearly something that happens in real life all the time.
But “Precious”, from what I know of it, is also a realistic story (if not actually a true one). Unfortunately, people like the family in “Precious” do indeed exist; from my experiences as a community worker, the story of Precious would not be shocking to me based on what I have seen in real life.
I think how we appreciate art is strongly influenced by our expectations, so I wonder what role your expectations played in evaluating these two films. I guess “Precious” is not good PR for black people, but does that mean it’s not a good movie?
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@ eurasion sensation:
Did you genuinely expect an objective opinion on this blog? This blog is not about reality, it is about blaming white people for everything.
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@ abagond
Are you not aware that the state of black people in this country is the worst of all races? At some point you need to ask what non-white people can do to change that. But, I’m not sure why I am expecting reasonable behavior from a racist fool.
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With regard to ES question,
Personally I think it starts from an incorrect premise.
It misses one vital element viz. the intent of the art-ist in this case the film producer within a racist film industry
I would say with regard to:
“Precious” is not good PR for black people, but does that mean it’s not a good movie”
For me this would be sufficent to conclude ‘Precious’ or any other such film is not a ‘good’ movie
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@ J:
but does everything have to be viewed through that lens of whether it presents black people in a good light?
Are there not other artistic merits to be taken into account?
You could argue the same for “The Wire”, or “Chappelle’s Show”, or the work of the Notorious BIG. All of which I think are brilliant, but all could be seen as showing a negative depiction of black people.
I’ve seen the dysfunction in “Precious” in real life, except in my part of the world it is mostly with white people. So I might see the film principally being a human story, rather than about “the terrible things that black people do”. Obviously, some will see it as the latter; but is that not more about those people’s mindsets, rather than the film itself.
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I think so – if the film industry is racist, one cannot just wish it away as a variable that has no impact whatsoever.
I have not seen the film Notorius B.i.g., but I am not a fan of his music and/or what he represents, if that gives you any insight into my thinking.
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I’m referring to BIG’s music, rather than the film, which I haven’t seen. I would agree with you and say that I don’t like what he represented, and I certainly don’t consider him to have been a good human being. At the same time, I am someone who likes hip-hop, and the guy is simply a brilliant rapper. I choose to focus on that aspect, rather than whether or not he is a good spokesman for the black community.
So is it ever okay for black people to be shown in a less than flattering light in cinema?
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I like Hip Hop but perhaps my bias does not see him as a great rapper in the mould of Rakim, KRS-1, to name a few.
With regard to:
“So is it ever okay for black people to be shown in a less than flattering light in cinema?”
It all depends upon the intent of the film producer, who is usually the pawn in a bigger chess game called the film industry.
Cue Public Enemy, Ice Cube & Big Daddy Kane – Burn Hollywood Burn
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This is interesting discussion.
So is it ever okay for black people to be shown in a less than flattering light in cinema?
I know you’re asking J, and not me, but this is, indeed, a good question. I am against censorship for the sake of PC and I don’t think any group, or subject is “off limits” by default (well, most of them). There’s nothing wrong in showing black pathology, or general problems with black characters, or having evil black characters (black actors as bad guys), etc, etc.
However, the problem is when you look at the majority of the movies and see the same stereotypes about black people (or any other group for that matter) repeated over and over and over again. These sort of things are very powerful and these media images shape people’s opinions about the group in question. So while there are certain individuals and situations who fit the stereotype, it’s not true for others- and these are usually majority of the people.
I guess, good or bad as a work of art, “Precious” is less “precious” as a movie because it feeds the stereotypes and, once again, shows the black pathology- and there are plenty of that sort of movies already. So while it might be a great work of art, I can completely understand why blacks are sick of this media portrayal.
When your group is constantly shown as evil, violent, dysfunctional and bad, you can’t be really happy about yet another movie who portrays your group in a similar light, regardless of its artistic merits.
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Eurasian:
Good art allows you to see the world more deeply and truly than you did before. Like after you read a good book the world seems a little wider and a little deeper.
Stereotypes lead away from that. While there are always people who fit any given stereotype, in and of themselves stereotypes work to narrow and limit our vision. And, given how they function in society, they become lies to protect the powerful.
The aim of good art in regard to blacks is not to paint them in a good light or a bad light but in a true light. “Precious” fails to do that. So do those American television shows with good-but-boring middle-class black characters (how I hate that).
Billie Holiday’s songs do not paint either her or blacks in a good light, but their emotional truth is what makes them good.
Tolkien’s stories are set in a completely made-up world, but it is their moral truth that makes them good and more than just entertainment.
“Precious” did seem to have that “wider and deeper” effect on some whites, like Barbara Bush, but only because their stereotypes were worse than the movie’s, only because they do not see people like Precious as fully human.
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I didn’t watch “Precious”, but isn’t it possible for someone to watch it as an example of a sad human situation, not as a black pathology?
PS-I am surprised you like Tolkien, because many describe his work as racist. I must admit I understand the accusations; still, I must also admit I admire that man’s work and he is, despite all, one of my favourite authors.
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Sounds like a must-read this weekend. Just from the synopsis and blog post I became all into the narratives and look forward to watching the film.
But even so they wind up with a felony on their record, which means they cannot vote or receive public benefits (so they get kicked out of public housing, for example) and finding work becomes next to impossible.
Going one step further: After said has been accomplished to criminals all over cities in America, what then does society expect for these same criminals to do?
And around exactly whom are they to do it?
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Mira said:
“I didn’t watch “Precious”, but isn’t it possible for someone to watch it as an example of a sad human situation, not as a black pathology? “
True, perhaps foreigners can watch it at that level, but I doubt few Americans can.
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@ Eurasian and Mira:
Another way to answer your questions is to think about how these movies would work with an all-white cast.
In place of “poor black” put “poor white”, where “American Violet” presents poor whites matter-of-factly and “Precious” throws in white trash stereotypes. Class, in effect, would take the place of race.
The Precious character would be a fat piece of white trash (not a nice way to put it but that is just how she and her mother would be shown) and the people who help her would all be thin, nice middle-class white people. Even though the colourism would be gone it would still be pretty sickening to watch in my book.
“Precious” would still wind up blaming poverty on poor people and leave the middle-class looking like innocent angels. Meanwhile “American Violet” would still examine how power is used and abused by those very same “nice” middle-class people.
So even if you take out the whole black thing, “American Violet” would still be a much better film than “Precious”. And all the attention received by “Precious” would still be sickening. Though maybe people who have never been poor would see it differently. They might still see “Precious” as “uplifting”.
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With regard to:
“True, perhaps foreigners can watch it at that level, but I doubt few Americans can”
I would also add that many other Black communities all over the world to the Americans.
Furthermore with the negative image of Blacks in the media in the Western world, racism and White supremacy ideology ie the perception of Africa etc. Personally I believe there are many ‘foreigners’ on the sub-concious and unconscious level who would view it as another instance ‘Black pathology’.
It does not require a giant leap to make this possibility a reality
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True, perhaps foreigners can watch it at that level, but I doubt few Americans can.
Fair enough. I admit I am unable to fully see how an American would watch it.
All I know about “Precious” could be easily made with white actors and I don’t think the message would change. Still, I repeat: I didn’t see “Precious” so I admit I’m not the best person to comment on it.
Another way to answer your questions is to think about how these movies would work with an all-white cast.
Like I said, I never saw it as a “black” movie, except for the fact the main cast was black. There’s nothing in it (as far as I can tell) that couldn’t be made with white actors (except for some details, such as Precious wanting to be white and colourism).
“Precious” would still wind up blaming poverty on poor people and leave the middle-class looking like innocent angels.
Ok, this IS problematic. Like I said, I didn’t watch the film so all I know about it is plot synopsis. It all depends on how they portrayed the characters and the story. If it was made to look like blacks are responsible for being poor and having this kind of problems (or poor whites in your white example), yes, I agree, that is a bad message, regardless of movie’s artistic merits (directing, acting, etc.)
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Personally I believe there are many ‘foreigners’ on the sub-concious and unconscious level who would view it as another instance ‘Black pathology’.
Well, you have to make a poll or ask foreigners about their opinions. You can’t assume something like that without a proof.
Still, given the fact most of foreigners know about African Americans is through (white) American media, I can suspect many would, indeed, see this as a black pathology. But not all of them; now I’m making a wild guess, but I believe there are more non-American whites than American whites who would see this as a movie about human problems, not black pathology.
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Just for clarification Mira,
You seem to support to support my contention. Please note that I did not say ALL would see it as ‘Black pathology’
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Fair enough. You said “many”. I am just interested how “many” it actually is. “Many” as “significant number, the most” or “many” as “some”. I do, however, believe the number (percentage) would vary depending on a nation.
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Forgive me Mira, perhaps its me having a bad day, but it seems as if you are being pedantic
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Thanks for bringing this film to our attention. I just checked on my online movie site and its there, so I definitely watch it soon.
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[…] while catching up on my RSS feeds, a fellow blogger hipped me to the film American Violet via his May 28th entry of the same name. In the comments of the entry I learned that the film, which came out in […]
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Abagond, and anyone else interested, I just posted my entry regarding this film to my blog… internet issues delayed viewing and posting. Anwho, the entry can be found here: http://dedgurlcingztheblooze.wordpress.com/2010/06/09/the-movies-6/
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While we are discussing about topics relevant to American Violet Abagond, Lots of war criminals are merely cogs inside the machine of a legal regime, which ultimately permits their actions, having said that unjustifiable morally. Natural law theories give a basis for challenge on these grounds, whilst avoiding the awkward question of direct legal contravention, which ultimately functions to serve justice. In this sense, it’s perhaps useful as a canon of interpretation and in determining just and equitable outcomes in ‘difficult’ instances. Having mentioned that, as a wider legal idea, natural law along with the proposed intersection between law and morality seems too awkward to reconcile with deemed academic legal understandings. Having stated that, natural law has provided an superb beginning position for further advanced argumentation, and has provided a platform for critique that has been essential to the development of the extra sophisticated ideas held in regard in this modern day day.
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Great film. Made me very angry. Nicole Beheri is a good actress would like to see more of her work.
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This was an excellent movie. It was with this movie that I realized specifically how corrupt and problematic our system of plea bargains really is.
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It was a great movie and the use of law terms are really appreciated.
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how the raas have i never seen this?!? i’m ordering it right now!!!
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and now i’ve watched it. it’s bloody good! thanks Abagond!
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@ Tawny
“American Violet” is great! Much better than “Precious” or “The Wire”.
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