KNOX: JEFF LIPSK Y/CPI SYNDICATION
“Knox [here in
2013] has been so
scrutinized; she
just wants to steer
her own life,”
says Blackhurst.Last March, after years
of legal ping-pong,
Italy’s highest court
definitively exonerated
onetime American
exchange student
Amanda Knox in the
2007 murder of her
roommate Meredith
Kercher, citing multiple
errors in the investiga-
tion that led to two
guilty verdicts. Knox,
now 29, has quietly
tried to move on; she
lives in Seattle, writes
for a local paper, and
works with the Inno-
cence Project, which
helps the wrongfully
convicted. And yet
people still doubt her
innocence: Is she that
girl next door who
stumbled into the
wrong place and
landed in prison for it?
Or did she pull off the
ultimate O.J. Simpson
move? Brian McGinn
and Rod Blackhurst,
directors of the new
Netflix documentary
Amanda Knox, followed
the case for five years,interviewing Knox and
almost all the key play-
ers to get answers.
First off, do you
believe she did it?
Rod Blackhurst: The
objective facts very
clearly show that she is
innocent. We wanted to
examine why people
just don’t want to
believe that.
Why did the world
get so obsessed
with this case?
Brian McGinn: As with
Serial,Making a Mur-
derer, and TheJinx,
the Knox case was
covered like a TV show,
with regular episodes
and clickable head-
lines. Of course, when
you start creating cliff-
hangers in people’s
lives, that’s a very
mushy ethical space.
Was Knox judged
differently because
she’s a woman?
BM: Ye s. A t t h e t r i a l
she was called a “witch
of deception” anda “she - devil,” which
ties into this whole
femme fatale fantasy.
The coverage was
absolutely sexist.
How’s her life now?
RB: There are still
communities of “guil-
ters” who think she did
it. She gets death
threats. She also gets
sent jewelry, TVs, and
women’s underwear
from creepy fans.
And the Kerchers’?
BM: We can all feel
for them. How could
you not? At the
end of the film,
Meredith’s mother,
Arline, says she has
seen two convictions
and two acquittals.
The one thing they
want is to know what
really happened
that day. To have
to try to find that
answer through this
whole media circus,
this commodification
of tragedy, is
heart breaking.
—Liz BrodyIN THE LIFE OF...The Most Infamously
Accused Female Villaın
The directors of a new Netflix documentary on
Amanda Knox share what they uncovered.AND TODAY
“As a black woman,
I don’t want to be a fetish.”
Black-white couples make up 12 percent
of new interracial marriages in the U.S.
ALYSON WEST, 39, is black; she married
Michael, who is white, in 2010: We ha d
both dated people of other races before;
we chose people, not race. But I had come
across men who expressed interest in me
for what felt like the wrong reasons; they
would say things like, “Black girls are
just...mmm!” I had no desire to become
someone’s fetish. As much as I love being
a black woman, I highly doubt I’d be com-
patible with someone who placed that trait
over my intelligence or humor. Know me.
K n o w A l y s o n— a n d e v e r y t h i n g t h a t c o m e s
with that. Michael accepts all of me.
KIA MCCALL-BARNES, 32, is black; she mar-
ried Kenzie, 32, who is white, in 2014:
Kenzie and I met on a lesbian dating site.
When she first messaged, my page said—
KENZIE: “No white girls.”
KIA: [Laughs.] It did not! It said: “I like
beautiful black women.” Raised in rural
Alabama, I never had interest in dating a
white girl. I was Miss Afrocentric, but Ken-
zie broke through: She wasn’t just a white
girl; she was this beautiful, open-minded
person. We married in Washington, D.C.,
because gay marriage still wasn’t legal
where we lived then. Now we’re planning
for a family. Recently someone asked me if
Kenzie was “afraid to raise a black baby in
America.” I thought that was ridiculous.
KENZIE: But I had definitely thought about
it. Like, how will we teach our children it
might be scary for them? I’ve seen Kia’s
world, and I can’t help but think about it.
KIA: White privilege is real, but it’s not
something she chose. It doesn’t cause ani-
mosity with us. We’re here for each other.
We protect each other from the world.
JENNIFER GRAHAM, 28, is white; she mar-
ried Will, who is black, in 2016: Will
and I live in the South, and we get a lot of
looks—mostly from older people. We also
get bombarded by comments that “mixed-
race kids are the cutest.” A stranger asked
me if my baby g irl’s father wa s black. She
tried to make her inappropriate comment
better by saying, “I hope I didn’t offend
you, she just has the most beautiful cara-
mel sk in t one. Plea se have more!” I f ind it
offensive when people ask about her dad’s
race. We aren’t breeding designer dogs.
We aren’t together to make a statement.
We’re together because we’re in love.Ta l k / In the News
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