Review: Selma

Every winter since we started dating, Jamie and I have a bit of a tradition. Neither of us can recollect making this an intentional tradition, but the pattern emerged, and we can both trace it back to winter 2008. Winter is our moving watching season, but not just any movies, we end up watching really serious historical/biographical films that give us an opportunity to think about justice and the perseverance of the human spirit. This winter has been no exception.

One of the movies we watched this winter was Selma, a movie that tells the story of the planning and events that led to the march 54 miles from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama on March 7, 1965. As I started writing this post, I just had the realization that today marks 50 years since that march. The march itself led to President Lyndon Johnson signing the Voting Rights act of 1965, and was a massive milestone in the civil rights movements of the 1960s.

I won’t go into the details of the film, but I do recommend you go watch it. I recommend it for a couple of reasons. First, it is a great film. Beyond being a great film, it carries the viewer back 50 years to a very different United States, and portrays just how overwhelming the opposition was to equal voting rights in parts of this country, and also carries the viewer to see how that opposition was overcome. Movies like Selma are a reminder that as Dr. King said many times, “The moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” May we all remember that the path toward a better world may not be an easy one, but it is always worthwhile to labor for the betterment of others. 

Martin Luther King Day 2012

Today we remember the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr and his legacy of working toward justice in America and in the world. It's pretty amazing to think about the fact that less than a century ago, the civil rights movement was in full sway. Less than a century ago, schools were segregated, restaurants were segregated, and even bathrooms and water fountains were segregated. Our nation has come a long way since Dr. King's death but there is still much work left to do in the realm of justice.

This weekend, I pulled a book off the shelf called "A Testament of Hope." It is a collection of the writings and speeches of the late Dr. King. I read a sermon, which was Dr. King's last Sunday sermon and it was given at the beautiful National Cathedral in Washington DC on Passion Sunday 1968, just a few years before I was born, almost to the day.

As I read the sermon, all I could think was that it could have been given yesterday just as easily as it could have been given 34 years ago. The words ring as true today as they did in 1968. Here's a small section.

"First, we are challenged to develop a world perspective. No individual can live alone, no nation can live alone, and anyone who feels he can live alone is sleeping through a revolution."

And another.

"Something positive must be done, everyone must share in the guilt as individuals and as institutions."

And yet another.

"There is another thing closely related to racism that I would like to mention as another challenge. We are challenged to rid our nation and our world of poverty. Like a monstrous octopus, poverty spreads its nagging, prehensile tentacles into villages and hamlets all over our world."

Dr. King, in this sermon centered the message around these words of Jesus, "Behold I make all things new--former things are passed away."

And as a closing remark, may the closing words of Dr. King's sermon be our prayer today, and every day, until Jesus returns.

"God grant that we will be participants in this newness and this magnificent development. If we will but do it, we will bring about a new day of justice and brotherhood and peace. And that day the morning stars will sing together and the sons of God will shout for joy. God bless you."