Artwork by
Dennis Murphy

For the students, by the students

Antwone Fisher Visits Mizzou
Christian Prosser, Corner Post Staff

September 10th 2003- After a brief introduction by Kathy Ann Murray, Student Life Liaison, Antwone Fisher took the stage. With an attitude part light-hearted, often serious, Fisher took the attentive, Jesse Hall audience through his life story from being born in a prison to his present career as a successful screenwriter.

"So I guess I'm gonna have to tell you the whole story." He began to describe the emotional roller-coaster that has been his life to date. Born in a prison to Eva Mae Fisher, with a father who had been killed before Fisher was born, he was immediately turned over to the state. His first foster home was a very loving environment. But the state in those days didn't want his foster mother to get too attached, so he was placed in another home at the age of three.

The majority of his self-title autobiographical film, which starred Derek Luke in the title role, takes place in this second household. His care-takers, the Reverend and Mrs. Pickett. Mrs. Pickett, "felt because we were children, we didn't deserve respect." The foster children in the house were abused physically and emotionally. His experiences included getting tied to a pole in the basement for untold amounts of time. He added, "It's difficult to gauge the passage of time when you're just a child. It seemed like days, but it could've just been for an hour."

One of his foster brothers was designated as the Reverend's "personal whipping boy." From all of the physical and emotional abuse that he had to endure, he eventually wound up in prison. Fisher also had a foster sister impregnated by a friend of the Picketts. To avoid trouble from the state, the Picketts had the pregnancy aborted.

As he grew older in the Pickett's house, Fisher learned that the only normal life he could live was in the outside world. Inside he was regularly told that he was going to hell. Around that time, the Picketts began using the house to board patients from a local hospital. According to Fisher, the patients weren't always sane and liked to lay out on the front lawn. "You know when you're a kid, you've got cool. They was cuttin' into my cool."

When Fisher was about seventeen, the Picketts decided to move back to Mississippi. Not wanting to take him with them, Mrs. Pickett put Fisher on a bus to social services with a grocery bag containing all his belongings. From there he went to a reform school called the George Junior Republic School for Boys, which was a reprieve from the fourteen years of abuse he dealt with.

After graduating, Fisher moved into a YMCA men's shelter and began collecting money from prostitutes for a man named Butch, who in turn took care of him. During his description of this, some muffled laughter came from the audience. To which, Fisher took a colder tone and responded, "It's a mean world… so when you part your mouth to laugh, just remember that it could happen to your child."

Next Fisher joined the Navy. The way Fisher described it, he went into a recruiter's station because he was living on the streets and the winter was too cold. Through the training and the different duty stations he learned to have pride in himself, which is a huge accomplishment for someone from his background. It was because of fighting with his shipmates that he met a psychiatrist named Lt. Commander Willams, played by Denzel Washington in the movie. Williams was the first person Fisher actually told his story to and he considered that a huge turning point in his life. Fisher couldn't say enough good things about the Navy but after 11 years, he decided to get out.

His next job was as a corrections officer. After several years he decided that the job was too depressing and that he needed something else. At that point Fisher took a job at Sony Studios movie lot. While working at Sony he decided to locate his father's family. But he hadn't accrued enough days off to do so. When he told his boss his story, he was given permission to locate his family.

When Fisher finally did find his family he realized that he had gone to school with their kids. They only lived a block away from him when he was growing up and told him that if they had known about him, they would've raised him like family.

Upon returning to Sony, Fisher found that his story had gotten around. Danny Devito and other producers wanted to make his story. Fisher decided that he wanted to write it, against many people who advised against it. After 41 drafts, he sold the script to Fox. Since, he has been involved in "Rush Hour 2," "Money Talks," and upcoming projects "Double O Soul," "Jelly Beans," and his last memoir "Finding Fish."

During his presentation to a packed Jesse Auditorium, Fisher often returned to his theme about caring for children. He closed his story with this to say: "In every life there is some rain, some darkness. For me and some other children I know, the darkness came too soon and stayed too long."

Throughout the evening, Fisher remained nonchalant about some truly disturbing circumstances, good-humored with the audience's reactions, and all-around, an exceptional speaker. {body}

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