'Wu-Tang: An American Saga': The true story behind Haze's tragic killing and Ernest Sayon's death in 1994 that shook Staten Island
Most who enjoy the Wu-Tang Clan's music might not know of the struggles the members went through before they came together. Not only were they members from opposing factions on Staten Island, but they were also young black men, often subject to police brutality. When you put "Staten Island" and "police brutality" together, the first thing that comes to mind is the death of Eric Garner - an unarmed black man who died after being put in a chokehold by an NYPD officer, Daniel Pantaleo in 2014.
The same thing eerily happened in 1994, when Ernest "Case" Sayon died after an altercation with officer Donald Brown and two other officers. The official reports say the police heard a gunshot and tried to detain Sayon who resisted. Sayon was beaten by the police officers in front of many witnesses, and in the struggle that ensued, he died. Method Man (real name Clifford Smith Jr.) grew up with Sayon and in the wake of Garner's death, spoke to the Huffington Post about how it hit close to home. He said, "He was killed by a cop. I'm going to say killed because he was killed by this cop, Donald Brown, who strangled him. Choked him to death. The same way Eric Garner, death by asphyxiation. Over a firework that he never even threw." Pro-Trump Rudy Guiliani was the mayor of New York at the time, and he said: "There will be justice in this case, you have my word". But for the people of Staten Island, justice was denied. Just as the Grand Jury decided not to indict Daniel Pantaleo for Garner's death, the same happened with the officers involved with Sayon's death.
The subject of Sayon's death was dealt with in the 2019 Showtime documentary made by Sacha Jenkins, 'Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics and Men'. In an interview with Complex, Jenkins says, "Ernest Sayon was someone who is a contemporary, a friend of the Wu-Tang guys growing up in Staten Island. When you go back and look at what happened to him, which is the point I was trying to make, it's happening now. So many people know and love Wu-Tang, but I wanted people to understand all the things that they had to endure. What they faced is what young black men and women face today. And so, it was a prominent case that was directly connected to the group as they were ascending, as their fame was starting to happen".
In this week's episode of Hulu's 'Wu-Tang: An American Saga', we see that story unfurl. While a group of young black men is rapping near the Park Hill complex, an elderly woman, Mrs. Burgess (Tonya Pinkins) calls the police after they throw a rock at her. Just before that though, she gives what is possibly the best dialogue on the show so far: "You call this a movement? Have you ever had to fight something bigger than yourselves? For your freedom? For your rights to exist?" This clearly sets the stage for what probably catalyzed members of Park Hill and Stapleton to stop feuding amongst themselves. As the police arrive, Haze (Malcolm Xavier) shows up. He had mentioned earlier in the episode that he was in the army and he was there when the Berlin Wall was brought down, "Always the motherf****rs in power that want to keep people apart, they want to control sh*t", he said. When Haze tries to tell the men to stand down, Officer Steve Marcus (Sullivan Jones) takes offense. When the tiff between them ends up in a struggle, Officer Marcus puts Haze in a chokehold, yelling at him, with the young black men watching on, held back by the police. We also see Power, Method Man, Sha (Raekwon) and Divine watch on as Haze is killed. These four men are from either Stapleton or Park Hill, but as they watch this incident, they are united in their fear and sorrow.
This incident and Officer Brown is referred to in many of the Wu-Tang Clan's member's song. In the Wu-Tang Clan's 'The Heart Gently Weeps', Method Man raps, "What's up with Officer Brown? The other day he tried to shackle me up / He killed Kase and now he hassling us". Cappadonna's 'Run' features lyrics like, "peep Marcel and Brown comin' around, dippin' the loco / run, if you ever got somethin' on you, son" and "Me and the god back to back 1-85 with the 4-5, survive that chase, / you took case, even though I remember ya face".
So far, Hulu's 'Wu-Tang: An American Saga', created by the RZA and Alex Tse, has been slowly building up what led to the formation. But as Mrs. B says, they didn't yet know they had to fight for something bigger than themselves. Perhaps united by grief over Haze's death, and their struggle for survival, the people of Park Hill and Stapleton finally come together to transform Staten Island into the Shaolin many know as today.
'Wu-Tang: An American Saga' airs on Hulu on Wednesdays.