Tag: Selma

Of Thrones and High Places: Lessons from Selma

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn RaceLeave a comment

selmaBy Kim Redigan

This is not a movie – this is real life!, shouted the elderly woman standing near the base of the Edmund Pettus Bridge as a human wave of tens of thousands rolled past her in a people’s-led march on the day after dignitaries, including the President and Congressman John Lewis, observed the fiftieth anniversary of Bloody Sunday in a far more officious manner.

The hand-lettered sign she carried read:

Justice is Still Blind in Selma, AL . . . Unfair treatment of citizens by certain persons in high places. We need help in Selma, Alabama. Continue reading “Of Thrones and High Places: Lessons from Selma” →

Selma: The Wait Ain’t Over

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Art as ResistanceLeave a comment

selma-bridgeBy Tommy Airey

Who murdered Jimmie Lee Jackson? Every white lawman who abuses the law to terrorize. Every white politician who feeds on prejudice and hatred. Every white preacher who preaches the bible and stays silent before his white congregation.
Martin Luther King in Selma (1965…2015)

There’s a chilling scene in the just-released Selma where Lyndon Johnson (Tom Wilkinson) peppers George Wallace (Tim Roth) over why he won’t ensure that black Americans have full protection to vote in his state. The notorious governor of Alabama assures the President that he doesn’t really have the power to do anything even if he wanted to: that’s up to counties and cities. And besides, if black folks get the full power of the vote (as enshrined in the Constitution a century earlier), then they will move on to more “demands:” for jobs, housing, health care and more.
Continue reading “Selma: The Wait Ain’t Over” →