Insta Notes on Selma

This may not be the most ultra-sophisticated of all my posts.  I have little time to sketch my thoughts, and my movie critic skills tend to the level of  - that there movie was good...but...here it goes......

That there movie was excellent.

I have rarely seen a movie with bettering acting from top to bottom. Every character was pitch perfect and played their parts in a way that was familiar and enlightening.

The movie highlighted the terrible prejudice and challenge of that time, from the shocking intro with the four girls laughing in their church with no clue as to the horror that was next, to the beatings on the bridge, and to the stubborn resistance that continues to this day.

The fight is not over.

The struggle continues.

The movie was set up with a thread of MLK trying to push LBJ into moving up Voting Rights legislation.  In doing so, it may have exaggerated LBJ's resistance to such a bill.  Let's make no mistake.  LBJ was one of the biggest friends African Americans and the poor have ever had in the White House.  He wasn't perfect, but he was better than virtually every one else who has ever held the office.  Perfect historical accuracy and a two hour movie that is trying to encapsulate and tell a story with a strong narrative thread are not always very compatible.  Does the movie tell a greater truth?  Absolutely, yes.  The denial and struggle to obtain equal voting rights existed, and it was horrible.  And most frighteningly, it is rearing it's ugly head again, as voting rights restrictions are being adopted in states throughout the country, and sections of the Voting Rights Act have been dismantled and muted by a brutally right wing Supreme Court.

The fight is not over.

The struggle continues.

Evidence:  In saying I was going to see the movie Selma, someone called it political propaganda supporting socialism and black activism.

Black activism?  Really?  One of  the most Christian based movements in our history should be dismissed as Socialist back activism?

If so, count me in.  If that movement was socialist black activism, I am a proud supporter.

Actually, if I was in that time, and if I had any stones, I'm not sure my response would have been as non-violent as King and his supporters.  I'm not sure if I could have taken what they did with such passive resistance.  I'm not sure I could have turned the other cheek.

I would hope that I could.  As a Christian, I believe in the power of non-violent resistance.  Social justice is at the very heart of my religious philosophy.  I would hope that I would be strong enough to do so.

But I have a chance to prove it.  Police brutality and profiling still exists.  Voting restrictions are returning.  Income inequality is growing to feudalistic proportions.

Ferguson has revived the idea of non-violent protest.  Cell phones and instant videos have weakened the ability for evil to exist in the dark.

It will not change by itself.  It will take each and everyone of us that believes in equality and justice.

Send a message to my friend(s) who think this is socialist black activism, for those who wish to return us to a darker age.........

See Selma today.

The fight is not over.

The struggle continues.