Given all the racial unrest and anxiety around voter suppression right now I thought it would be as good a time as any to revisit Ava DuVernay's acclaimed film Selma, and I'm pleased to say it really holds up.
It may be best remembered now at the film that ignited the #OscarsSoWhite debate. Despite rave reviews, a timely premise and a solid performance at the box office, the movie (which documents and recreates the battle for black voting rights in 1965) was snubbed for Best Actor and Best Director, although it did sneak into the crowded Best Picture field.
Six years later though, it should be recognized for its power and prescience.
The film is remarkably moving -- you can't watch it and not walk way with immense respect and admiration for the tireless effort of activists including but not exclusively Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the late Rep. John Lewis. When it came out, it struck a nerve because the Supreme Court had very recently gutted the Voting Rights Act -- but today it has resonance for a myriad of other reasons.
First and foremost, it is a tremendous anecdote to voter apathy. This movie reminds us -- in case we needed the reminder -- that many people fought and died so that we could all have the freedom to vote and my takeaway from it then and now is that it's an affront to those peoples' legacies to refrain from that institution.
The movie also helps drive home how really briefly we've had real voting rights in this county. Basically none of our presidential elections were fair until 1968 (maybe).
The emotional moments of the film all still land a punch: seeing Oprah Winfrey abused by police as the courageous Annie Lee Cooper, the heartbreaking moment where King (played to perfection by David Oyelowo) tries to comfort the grandfather of Jimmie Lee Jackson (who was brutally slain amidst civil rights protests) or the final, rousing oratory of King on the steps of the Alabama statehouse -- which is then brilliantly undercut by a title card reminding us that Viola Luizzo, a well-intentioned white woman who'd come to Alabama to help in the fight was brutally murdered just hours later helping transport black activists into the night.
And yet -- there are still people who think they are being noble by not participating in electoral politics.
King and his followers weren't arguing that we should like politics or like politicians. The battle to win voting rights was slow, arduous, bloody and by no means was it a guaranteed success. These activists were no illusions that winning the right to free and fair elections in the South was going to change conditions for black people there overnight.
However, they understood the need and impact incremental victories could have and they recognized that without the ability to vote and by extension influence politicians they would not be able to get laws changed that would disproportionately benefit communities of color. Believe me, if they could have bypassed Congress and state legislatures and elected sheriffs -- I am sure they would.
I have very little patience for apathy this election cycle. The president of the United States is actively encouraging violence and excusing murder. I understand not liking the alternative, but it takes such a cynical leap of faith to presume that a Joe Biden would govern the exact same way as Donald Trump that if you've convinced yourself of that you're not a student of history or have much of a grasp on reality.
Selma is a good reality check for anyone, but especially those people out there who think they are ambiguous about voting. It's a sacred right. And as long as we still have it, we ought to use it.
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