The Courage of MLK

On the weekend I saw two films which have been nominated for a Best Film Oscar. The second was Selma, which is focussed around the march from Selma to Montgomery Alabama during the turbulent days of the Civil Rights movement. There have been so many depictions of events during that time yet I found Selma to be quite moving and thought-provoking. For some strange reason the Academy chose not to nominate David Oyelowo for Best Actor. He offers a portrait of Martin Luther King as a flawed leader who is not attentive to his family nor faithful to his wife, Coretta. At the same time he is a person of profound faith and determination who struggles with the burden of leadership.This King is constantly aware of the implications of his choices as leader for this movement. In the film the first attempt to march from Selma results in brutality and death, in part because King is spending much-needed time with his family.

An aspect of the story told in Selma which was emotional for me was the call by Dr.King to clergy as another march was planned. Ministers, pastors, and priests from across North America responded. Many of them were white, and the involvement of whites in the march -- up to a third-- probably affected the response of the racist local police and Governor George Wallace. Wallace was pressured by President Lyndon Johnson to allow the march even though he had misgivings privately.

While the Selma march was eventually completed and was a triumph for the Civil Rights Movement it was not without cost. Not only does the film note the intimidation and brutality toward people of colour, it points out that whites were killed as well, including a Unitarian minister from the Northwest who came to march in solidarity.

I do hope that when the film Selma comes to Belleville we can have a discussion. On this holiday honouring MLK in the States we can be mindful of and grateful for his courage and the resolve of so many.

We should also note that racism has not been consigned to history. It is still an ugly reality in the United States and Canada to an extent. When racial tensions erupted in Ferguson, Missouri last year clergy from the community and across the country converged to bear witness and to do everything possible to avert violence.