Last night, while looking for a movie to watch, I said to Anne, “How about Selma? It’s timely.”
It’s one of those movies that we’d both been intending to see since it came out, but never got around to. I tracked it down and we settled in. It is a powerful, moving, beautiful film that at least one Fascist who is about to become an illegitimate president should watch.
When the film was over, I sat on the couch, and wept for several minutes. This isn’t ancient history. This isn’t fiction. This is something that happened less than a decade before I was born, and the kind of systemic racism it reveals is still happening today from Ferguson to Baltimore to towns all across America that never make the news. And now we are about to have an illegitimate president who would look at George Wallace and think he was the hero of this story.
It’s appalling to me that our SCOTUS threw out the voting rights act that Dr. Martin Luther King, John Lewis, and so many other civil rights leaders fought so hard to bring into law. It’s even more appalling that, half a century later, our country still needs it. It’s disgusting and sickening that the idiot who is about to become the least popular president in history doesn’t know, or doesn’t care, about the people who fought so hard (some giving up their lives) to ensure that their fellow Americans were allowed to exercise the rights given to them in our country’s Constitution.
I went to a hockey game today. At one point in the second period, a picture of Dr. King was put on the jumbotron with an excerpt from his famous “I have a dream” speech printed next to him. There was no announcement, there was no attention drawn to it, to him, to his sacrifices and to the entire reason today is a federal holiday. I think I was one of maybe half a dozen people in the Staples Center who applauded. I’m pretty sure I was the only one (at least in my section) who stood up. That made me feel ashamed for my country, and so disappointed in my fellow citizens. More attention was paid to the kiss cam, than to the memory of the man who we are meant to honor and remember today.
We have come so far, America, yet we have so far to go.
I saw Hidden Figures today. Good day for it and a really, really good movie. I wish the book were written like a human story rather than a history book.
Great thing about going today, and it was the 10:30 AM showing–people from all ages and all walks of life shocked at the same times, laughing together and applauding spontaneously. One of the best times I’ve had at the movie theater in a long time.
Thanks, Wil. I teach community college, and while I feel optimistic about the new generation, each new generation must be taught again. It’s never a done deal. We must always remember to teach love and tolerance, and that’s an uphill battle.
Oh, Wll, you are so right. If I had been at the game with you I also would have stood and applauded. And cried. I remember Dr. King as a living man on the nightly news. How I cried when he was killed. I was just old enough to watch, and remember both Kennedys and Dr. King and thinking how awful our world was. If I had the opportunity I would sing at Trumps inaguration. I would sing “Abraham, Martin, and John” to remind this country how far we have not come.
Hang i there, we have overcome worse.
I grew up in the 1960’s and 1970’s in rural South Carolina. Racism was (and still is) passed down from generation to generation. I have spent my entire adult life trying to “un-learn” the things that were taught to me about people of color. This country has come a long way since the time of Dr. King, but there is still a much longer way to go for true equality of all people. I would like to see it achieved in my lifetime, but I’m also not going to hold my breath.
I’ve never seen Selma, thanks for mentioning it, I will add it to my Netflix list.
I keep typing a response and then deleting it, because it all boils down to me saying: Amen, Wil.
(Is there a secular version of “Amen”? Is it “Fuck yes”? FUCK YES, WIL!)
A few people on my Tumblr posted about “Letter From Birmingham Jail” and in particular this quote;
“I must confess that over the last few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens Councillor or the Ku Klux Klanner but the white moderate who is more devoted to order than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice”
The scariest thing to me is not the monstrous sociopath preparing to take the Oval Office this Friday. It is the people who want to settle in and normalize the situation. It is the people who want peace so desperately they will settle into the negative peace of accepting an unchallenged resurgence of bigotry, rather than fight through the tension to get to the positive peace of true justice.
Thanks for using your platform to protest this normalization. Let’s all go out this year and misbehave
Thank you for posting that quote. It’s so aggravating to see white people use Dr. King as a symbol of “peace” when what they really mean is “not speaking out and acting up against injustice because everything is okay now.”
This is a fantastic quote. I hadn’t heard it before, and I will copy it and use it now. Thank you!!
Nicely said, Wil!
When I was growing up in Seattle I wasn’t allowed to play with the other kids on my block because I was “a jew”. I had rocks thrown at me, lots of things. My father worked for the Post Office and we had guests of many different cultures visit our house. When I was 11 we put our house up for sale and a group of men from the block visited him to warn him that “he better not sell to a ……….”. He told them he’d sell to whomever he damned well please, but he would certainly also let them know what kind of neighborhood it was! That was 55 years ago. I am saddened to still have to say that, yes, we really do still have a long way to go.
are you sure you’re not canadian? you are just way too decent for that country. you should bring Anne & the kids here, lots of acting work here too. just a thought!
Still haven’t seen Selma. I need to. Thanks for the reminder, Wil. Have you seen Hidden Figures yet? Also a good one!
Come to Canada.
I don’t know that I would advise that. I don’t know that I wouldn’t.
About Selma and how far we still have to go as a country, I am right there with you. But I think you’re missing the fact that the political side that you support is not actually in the business of moving us forward in this respect beyond just buying votes and legislation that is little more than empty window dressing. For one thing, every time you subsidize a product/service, especially one like healthcare that has already lobbied to create monopolies over every sector of its industry, you increase demand, which then causes the prices to increase. That means even more people cannot afford it, and then you have to raise the subsidies, which causes the prices to increase again, so even more people have to be subsidized, and on and on. What exactly is the definition of fascism? That was rhetorical. It’s the merger of corporate and state such that corporate (multinational corporations) circumvent our Constitution and sovereignty to enrich themselves through govt mandate by financially capturing our elected and appointed legislators and officials. This is exactly what Obamacare was. If you can show anyone how Clinton was any less fascist than any other candidate then you will have conjured up some really heavy magic or maybe cracked into an alternate universe. 1) She was a proponent of TTP and TTIP, which are the most fascist trade agreements ever invented, 2) she has shown through her State Dept behavior that she is deeply embedded in that part of our country who is hell bent on global US hegemony and imperialism, 3) she is the worst war hawk in the entire democratic party, and if you only follow the money you will see why. I’m no Trump supporter, but I can clearly see that in the last election there was no lesser of two evils. Both sides were absolutely pathetic. And if all the people planning on protesting were truly enlightened they would have protested a year ago against the travesty of “candidates” that were stood up before us to pick from. Next election is going to be even more pathetic, because the only thing we will ever get from picking from the lesser of two evils is worse and worse evil with every election.
As a middle-aged, college educated African American woman, can I say something and not get flamed? I know that this might be hard to wrap your mind around, but when white people get a little too passionate about Dr. King and the movement, it rings disingenuous to a lot of us. I mean, I can appreciate that you feel for us and that you can empathize with us, but when you take it too far (like being one of a dozen or so who applaud at a sporting event) I wonder if it was more for you, instead of us? For instance, I know of the history of many whites who fought their own battles for civil rights…Susan B. Anthony, Ned Kelly, Harvey Milk, etc and I can appreciate how they suffered and what they went through, but you’re not going to see their photos on my Facebook page or see me applaud if their face pops up at a Kings game, I’m not going to applaud and get tears in my eyes. Why? because it would be disingenuous. The connection with their struggles is just not there for me, and it shouldn’t be. It would be wrong of me to say “it’s our struggle, not yours” but in a way, that’s the truth. So please, I know it’s the ‘in’ thing to do (just look at Google homepage today) but just remember that you read this and please think about it next time, when you’re being more passionate about something than you should be, please back it off. Let me just be honest, we don’t want you to applaud…it’s not for you to do that. If you noticed, we didn’t. We don’t have to. We appreciate the reality of Dr. King and the movement, because we live it everyday. In my, and many others opinions, you were being mildly condescending.
If I may offer a bit of context: my best friend when I was a kid was Black. I was adjacent to racism every day, and I saw how people treated us differently, just because I was white. Thing is, he was a lot smarter than me, and one of the most amazing people I ever knew.
So when I honor civil rights leaders and people who gave their lives and made massive sacrifices just so people like my friend could be treated with dignity, respect, and equality under the law, it is personal for me. It’s my belief that if we’re going to stand for the national anthem, and if we’re going to stand for “the hero of the game” who is always someone from the military, we should stand for Dr. King. I totally respect that it’s very different for me, than it is for a person of color, and I do appreciate your comment, but it’s a little insulting to be called condescending, based on my race.
“Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.” MLK I do believe he would be gravely disappointed in us.
What is this world in for , with Trump . Yet we know but cannot do a thing to stop him. Lord I hope we can over come this.
I think we can, though. That is, we can’t stop him from being president right now, and we can’t stop that from having a terrible impact on many people’s lives over the next four years. But we aren’t a fascist dictatorship yet. We still have the power to make his life extremely difficult.
Call our senators and urge them to oppose Trump at every turn. I’ve been doing that, even though I have phone anxiety, and I have seen my senators step up their game in the cabinet hearings. Even if the cabinet of deplorables is approved, there is a huge difference between seeing them approved without criticism and approved over the objections of senators who have the support of their constitutents.
Vote in the smaller elections. Remember the midterms. There has been a long pattern of Democrat turnout waxing and waning; showing up for Presidential elections and coming up short in the years between. Republican turnout is more steady, which gives them an advantage in Congress. We need to change that. Vote, and also spread awareness about the elections. Right now Trump’s impeachment is in the hands of a Republican majority. If we change that in 2018, we cancel the apocalypse.
Call our state governors and urge them to sign the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. If we can get 270 electoral college votes signed on by 2020 (and we are already a bit over halfway there) elections where the popular vote loser wins will be a thing of the past. Trump stands no chance of reelection without the Electoral College, and even if we can’t meet that goal, if there is a national movement to sign it, that will continue to highlight the fact that he was NOT elected by the people, but by an utterly useless institution.
Keep criticizing him. Fascists cannot exist in a society where they are openly criticized. Support and share news articles that are willing to call him out. Participate in a protest. Write a funny meme. Those things alone aren’t enough without some concrete actions like the ones above, but they are the oil that keeps the revolution machine running.
Apologies for the grandstanding and the advice you’ve likely heard before. I just can’t stand to see people say we can do nothing. This isn’t new, because revolutions aren’t graded on their originality. They are graded on their effectiveness.
I saw Hidden Figures myself over the weekend here in Ottawa. I am pleased – not sure I have the right to say “proud” – to tell you that the screening room was packed. Maybe 10 or 15 seats left empty. I laughed, cried, snarled…and it is a movie we should all see. Canadian or American. Even in better times than we suspect we’re facing right now.
I watched Selma with my mom when it was first added to prime, and I agree we do have a long way to go everytime I feel like maybe we’ve made progress something happens and we either go backwards or the progress was a facade. I grew up in memphis and every time we have out of town guests we have them go to the civil right’s museum and everyone comments on how powerful it is, and learn a lot about the movement. I went again recently with my cousins and uncle when they were in town. so if you’re ever in memphis go to the museum if you haven’t or even if you have they’ve added a new building a couple of years with exhibits addressing stuff like Black Lives Matter and the Black Panthers stuff after MLK which it used to end with you looking at his hotel room. .
Its sad to see you and Joss Whedon melt-down into anti-trump paranoia. Until you grow up I refuse to patronize your whining infantilism.
Oh how will we ever manage to carry on without you.
We do indeed have a long way to go, but cling to hope that how far we’ve come can be how much farther we go.
Also, rebellions are built on hope.
Lol (Star Wars reference).
Do you actually see a “rebellion” going on atm? If so, by who and against whom?
Wil,
I understand that you’re upset that we didn’t win the election. I am too. But you’re echoing some very disturbing low-brow soundbytes. Referring to the president as an idiot is free speech. Though he isn’t. If he were, then the situation would be much less serious than it is. But you also refer to him as illegitimate. That also is also free speech, but it takes you across the line from a patriot with a dissenting opinion, and makes you a person who dissents against the country and its legitimate process for choosing a president. This is an important distinction because progress is not made by those who disengage, but by those who passionately engage. I encourage you to tone down the harmful rhetoric, turn up the helpful rhetoric, and if you feel that strongly, get involved and use your celebrity to do something positive.
MLK was my hero after doing a high school project about his life and work, and I am not black, so thank you for this post. A few replies ago, Lucinda wrote about how it may be disingenuous for you to applaud MLK when, perhaps, the connection to his struggles, might not have applied (or that is what I got from the post anyways). Isn’t this the exact kind of mentality MLK, and others like him, were trying to abolish? If I am not black, should I not applaud either? Am I being disingenuous by having MLK as one of my heroes? Dr.King’s message was for everyone – after all, he did speak of all of God’s children. Perhaps I don’t relate to what Lucinda is trying to suggest, or say, or maybe I am reading it incorrectly, but I think that we can all relate to MLK’s powerful message regardless of color. The fundamental problem, and the problem which also perpetuates racism, is the us/them mentality.
I may be wrong, but I was somewhat insulted after reading:
Quote: …I mean, I can appreciate that you feel for us and that you can empathize with us, but when you take it too far (like being one of a dozen or so who applaud at a sporting event) I wonder if it was more for you, instead of us?…
I am a mixed race Asian Canadian, and an anglophone living in Quebec – I know a thing or two about racism. I’ve also been fortunate enough to have friends of numerous different ethnic backgrounds, and we all knew one thing: peace is for everyone. Now I know what MLK was referring to in his most famous “I have a dream” speech, but if you look at the deeper message, you’ll get what I’m saying.
ps. I respect Lucinda’s point of view, but I don’t agree with what she said. I respect the struggles that any victim of racism has gone through, but I cannot understand the mentality that thinks that a white person might be disingenuous when he applauds a great leader, publicly. This backward thinking can only serve to perpetuate racism. Think about it a little, and you’ll get it. Or watch that Morgan Freeman interview on 60 Minutes, I think it was, to understand a little bit about how I think.
I believe there is a universal struggle that should appeal to all of us interested in peace, regardless of what color the person is, or what sex they are, or where the message is coming from. Unless that happens, then truly, racism/sexism/etc will continue to exist. Like I said, I respect Lucinda’s point of view, but I have experienced how this type of thinking does not, and can not, lead to the universal peace we all deserve.
Haven’t seen the film, but it seems strange to have a romantic attachment to the events depicted in the film when the realities on the ground in Selma today are so grim.
Some facts about Selma:
42% of people live in poverty (twice the state average)
The HIV rate in Dallas County is 106.8 percent higher than the national average.
It is the 4th most dangerous city in Alabama.
Over the past 50 years, since the events depicted in the film, Selma has lost 1/3 of its population.
There is a massive problem with blighted homes and failing infrastructure.
What is the point of idealizing the past when it provides only cold comfort in the present? Might it actually be damaging to our ability to help the people of Selma in the here and now since it discourages us from drawing attention to these problems for fear it may besmirch the efforts of the brave people no longer with us?
I think that is exactly whats going on. The money-people want to keep us distracted from the realities of today and lost in a nostalgic view of past triumphs.
I see your point, but I think those are the wrong questions. The right question is “what can I do now?”
I’ve been calling my senators. Right now I’m printing out fliers about the NPVIC (if you don’t know what that is, see http://www.nationalpopularvote.com) to distribute at the Women’s March on Friday. When and where I can, I donate or volunteer for causes that fight for equality.
You feel for Selma. You’re informed about the problems there. Good for you. Can you do something about it right now? If not, what can you do for someone else who is struggling against injustice?
@Lane
What can be done “now” is my question and that means looking at how we got here.
Wil’s title is frankly incorrect. First of all I am not sure who “we” is. I am not black and neither is Wil. 80% black Selma is suffering. If this is the epicenter of the Civil Rights movement why is it objectively getting worse rather than better? This is an important question that needs to be answered if things are ever to improve for the residents of Selma and other majority black cities. One thing I can tell you for certain is that films like Selma are not helping the situation and may well be harming it. Although I have not seen the film I am confident it does not show the realities of Selma today since it would undermine the positive message of the film (which I am assuming is “we shall overcome”).
You are, however, quite right to want to focus on the now. I am with you. My whole point was that romanticism for the struggles of the past can blind you to the realities of the present. Especially when it is built on a notion of “progress.” When you have this idea of progress there is a temptation to downplay problems as the birth pangs of a better world, when in reality there is no indication of things improving, only getting worse. Despite the fact that people like MLK deserve respect for doing what they thought was the right thing for their people, it might be time to consider that their approach has been flawed. There are other Black leaders whose ideas are not given as much attention as Dr. King and maybe its time for that to change. Malcom X, Marcus Garvey, and Mohamed Ali disagreed with King on many things and it is possible that they were right and he was wrong.