Using the cover of an Atlanta limousine driver, Jabari Hayes trafficked large quantities of cocaine across the United States for the then largest African American drug organization in the South East known as the Black Mafia Family, or BMF.
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ThyBlackMan.com) Coming off a successful series start with “Wilmington on Fire”, BLK Docs, an ongoing initiative from Speller Street Films and The Luminal Theater in partnership with Seed&Spark, continues its focus on publicly exhibiting documentary films specifically made by
Black documentary filmmakers with its second monthly entry, a multi-layered story that is as much about redemption and society as it is about notorious acts.
In “Miles in the Life: The Story of a BMF Drug Trafficker,” we meet Jabari Hayes, who grew up in crack-era Brooklyn during its 1980’s epidemic, with his mother falling victim to the narcotic. While Hayes eventually escaped to St. Louis, Missouri to live with his father, and eventually became a star student athlete at Morehouse College, graduating summa cum laude, he found himself once more at the center of the drug game.
Former BMF drug trafficker Jabari Hayes discovers new lane as a filmmaker
Jabari Hayes of Bavarian Collision (Photo by N. Ali Early for rolling out)
Jabari Hayes has every reason to buy into and play the role of the “angry Black man.” He is, however, the exact opposite of the misguided miscreant the universe wanted him to be. Even though he was born into a drug-infested environment, copping marijuana for his mother before he could do his times table, he smiles. His face is permanently fixed with joy and he is unapologetically determined to win.
After a five-year bid for his part in the heavily publicized Black Mafia Family drug operation that reigned supreme across the country, his temperament remains full of optimism.