Selma

How should you spend your Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend? Go and see the movie “Selma.” I don’t know about you but the march of 8,000 people from Selma to Montgomery was a small paragraph in my civics textbook which does not give this important event the justice it deserves. I know that the film is not 100% historically accurate (what “based on true events” film doesn’t take some artistic license?).  But despite some historical inaccuracies, this film couldn’t come at a better time as it speaks to the continued racial tension and discrimination in our nation.

What I appreciated about the move “Selma” was the reminder that Martin Luther King Jr. was a threat to people in power because he could make people see and feel their deep need to change. We are all in need of change, in need of the transforming power of God, and Martin Luther King Jr. helped the people of his day, both black and white feel the injustice of being black in a nation run by white privilege.

Why should you see Selma? Because racism is not just a part of our past, it is a part of our present. White privilege is a real issue and Selma was a reminder to me that when we see our brothers and sisters in Christ struggling, our silence makes us complicit with those who are causing deep pain in our world. Sometimes we need to march, not necessarily for a person but for “mercy to roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” I also appreciated the message of Selma because it was a reminder that nothing worth fighting for in life is easy, nothing worth fighting for (even non-violently) comes without personal sacrifice and strain. Watching Selma was a reminder that there were marches that defined us as a nation, that reminded us of who we were and what mattered in life and that we will be called upon by God throughout our lives to march again- for justice, for freedom, for love to be poured out upon us all.