“Just
give the niggars what they want.”
This
is a line delivered in the powerful and important new film, Selma, the story of
how Martin Luther King, Jr. led the historic Voting Rights Act of 1965 to pass
Congress.
Selma,
worthy of Oscar talk, reminds us that African Americans still don’t have what
they want, or what all people should want.
The
movie evokes anger, shame, and sadness over what happened in the really not-so-distant
past. It’s a movie everyone needs to
watch. I thought I’d seen enough such
films and knew the whole story. A a
liberal I don’t need a movie to tell me the world is unjust. But we all need a reminder, and for me, it
was a special experience because I took my son (and wife), who just turned 10,
to see his first socially serious movie.
I realized he doesn’t know much about the 60’s, other than general
introductions in school.
It’s
important to give today’s society context.
When we see a disproportionate amount of crime is committed by blacks or
that their education rate is low and unemployment high, or that they distrust the
police, this movie helps you understand things.
This
doesn’t mean there’s an excuse for violent crime, but as one sees that blacks
and whites inherit different legacies and resources or burdens, you begin to
understand what still divides us on racial matters.
Slavery
may have been legislated away 150 years ago but progress from that point on has
been slow and uneven. Centuries of
inequality can’t even out overnight.
Especially where there’s still an undercurrent of prejudice or suspicion
amongst some people.
Now,
on the positive side, things are better than ever for racial relations in
America, but we still need to spotlight injustices. Voter ID nonsense at the polling place is
something straight out of Selma but persists today. Police shootings of unarmed black people
persist today. Stop and Frisk is
racist. But we don’t have race riots and
we don’t have KKK killings and more black people are soaring to the top of
professions and even gaining access to the White House.
The
movie reminded me that we don’t have great activists and leaders speaking out,
not a brand name like King. But there
are movements that effectively speak out on issues like gay rights, climate change, and
police brutality. Part of the problem is
the media. As noted in the movie, King
knew that only when the media shined on him and the events at hand would
something get done.
Where’s
the media today?
It’s
off speculating for three and a half years on who will run for the presidency,
trivializing everything. It will zero in
on Deflategate but not on what needs to be done to change the world for the
better.
The
1960s was such an activist era –
·
Civil
rights movement
·
Women’s
rights movement
·
Sexual
liberation movement
·
Drug
culture movement
·
Anti-war
movement
You
had Woodstock, the moon landing, the Beatles and assassinations of anyone who
spoke up – Kennedy, King, Malcolm X.
Maybe so much thought and violence clashed in that era that no other
institution, leader, or movement has been able to get off the ground since
then.
Today,
the media is far from being the ally to an activist leader like King. Our 24-hour news channels are absorbed by
pursuing ratings and will be quicker to tear a leader down than to build one
up. If that leader doesn’t sing, dunk a
ball, or blog, the media won’t take notice.
As
writers, it’s up to us to help influence policy, educate the public, and
inspire real action to be taken to bring about changes in our world that will
be of immense benefit. We can’t be
selfish, think short-term, or ignore the reality we live in.
After
the movie I asked my son what he thought of what he had witnessed. He said he was glad we took him and that he
didn’t fully realize that all that he saw had happened.
We
went to a bookstore at the mall where we saw the movie and I asked him if he
wanted a children’s book about MLK JR.
He seemed more interested in looking at a book on 3-D printers. Maybe our new generation of leaders express their energy, ideas, and activism through the prism of technology. Or maybe, thankfully, his world is safe and secure
and he sees racial equality around him.
For him, today, he doesn’t feel we live in the world depicted on screen.
Maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe we have
grown and distanced ourselves from those tenuous days, but they should not be
forgotten or out of our consciousness.
As
for King, what an amazing man. Though a
womanizer and an imperfect reverend, he was a tremendous orator who was driven
by a vision for justice. He may have
wavered and grown exhausted from the challenges all around him (in fighting
within the black community, legal issues, violent threats, lost faith), but he
persevered and at times was moved by those he had moved. A Nobel Prize winner and a courageous man, he
was shot dead in 1968 and America has not known a true leader since then. Jesse Jackson tried and peaked during his failed presidential bid in the 1980s, but then Al Sharpton moved in and has been an abject disappointment as a uniter of the races.
Who
will step up and speak out on all that could be better, all that needs to be
done? Will it be you or your child? And when that leader appears will we embrace
him or her?
Let’s
dream together – and
turn that dream into a reality.
DON’T MISS: ALL NEW RESOURCE OF THE YEAR
2015 Book PR & Marketing Toolkit: All New
Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and
ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter
@theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more
important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by
BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2015
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