being beaten in the picture above is John Lewis. He was a Civil Rights
leader, and this moment in time comes from the bloody first Selma to
Montgomery march in 1965.
On Saturday John Lewis, now a
Congressman from Georgia, was met
by anti-health care reform protesters – Tea Baggers – who chanted
‘Nigger’ at him. Forty
five years after being brutalized because of his simple desire for
equality, Lewis is a lawmaker. But he’s also still being confronted by
groups of ignorant bigots. This country has come very far, but it keeps
feeling like we’ve turned the corner and ended up right where we
started. Hate and regressive politics boil up everywhere around us. The
election of a black man to the presidency seems to have set off a switch
in the brains of some very already unstable people.
John
Lewis might very well be a character in Selma, the Civil Rights drama that
Oscar-nominated Precious director Lee Daniels is casting
right now. He’s got Hugh Jackman as a racist sheriff, and he just cast
Brit actor David Oyelowo (soon to be seen in Red Tails) as Martin Luther King Jr. But
he’s also got some financing problems, which is a shame because all of a
sudden what seemed to be an Oscar-grabbing nostalgia piece has become
very timely indeed. And I suspect that between now and the film’s
scheduled start date in a couple of months, the eerie racial deja vu is
just going to get more and more intense.
Selma has been a passion project for
Daniels for a while, and I’m hoping it’s not just because it’s a way of
getting another ticket to the Kodak Theater. I hope the movie is good
because we’ve hit a point in history where maybe we’ve forgotten the
hard-learned lessons. Societies have to be reminded every few
generations of some basic, fundamental truths, and racial equality and
tolerance could be a subject in which we need a refresher course. That
would make a well done film about King and about the most turbulent and
difficult moments of the Civil Rights struggle more than a prestige
picture, it would be the right film at the right time. I don’t know that
the quality could ever be comparable, but Schindler’s List is
an example of a movie that came to theaters right when it needed to,
helping teach new generations harsh truths that can’t come across in a
classroom.
See,
I have this crazy belief that movies matter. They matter on a personal
level – great films impact the viewer and change them, even in ways the
viewer doesn’t even notice. Cinema is an invasive art form, one that
gets right inside of you and that’s why it remains so powerful for
propaganda, and it’s why so many demagogues still fear it. The internet
can get facts and opinions all over the place at the speed of light, but
it can’t get truth across
the same way a really well-made film can. Maybe Selma‘s going to be one of those films
that gets that truth across. I’m going to be rooting for it.
31 comments
Thanks for shedding some light on this subject, Devin. It's too bad our so called televised news media doesn't publicly expose these cowards instead of just "ratings bait".
So, only white people can be racist. Got it (eye roll).
Well said, Devin. Very well said indeed.
Devin, movies garble facts just as much as teh interwebz. Don't act like films are beacons of blinding, unabashed truth.
Fucking a, Devin.
Nowhere in the article does it say only white people can be racist. Good piece devin.
@2: Yes, only white people can be racist; that was obviously the entire point of Devin's post, you nitwit.
They chanted "nigger"? are you kidding me? Do you have any audio of said accusation? Of course we can trust the word of a congressman… your own hatred of conservatives has blinded you for any semblance of objectivity…
I hope the movie is good as well…
However your "chant" never happened.
Debunked on the news today.
You might want some facts Devin. Here's video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SCs6pSE8_I&feature=player_embedded
No one drops the "N" word or encourages violence against the Congressmen. All they do is "boo" and chant "kill the bill". This is why people don't trust the media or liberals any more. The they continue to repeat easily provable lies.
"See, I have this crazy belief that movies matter. They matter on a personal level – great films impact the viewer and change them, even in ways the viewer doesn't even notice. Cinema is an invasive art form, one that gets right inside of you and that's why it remains so powerful for propaganda, and it's why so many demagogues still fear it." – Exactly what was invoked when I watched Punisher: War Zone.
Controversy over possible racist chanting aside, I have to agree about the power of movies. I don't think Devin's suggesting that movies, always tell the truth, only that — when they do — they have the power to bring the message home in ways no other media can. I can say without hesitation that I learned more life lessons such as tolerance and empathy from movies than I ever did from my parents. In fact, I'm sure that there are others out there who — like me — can say that movies helped them "unlearn" a lot of the more backward ideas and attitudes that were passed down from their elders.
The NEWS debunked it? Well, then , it MUST have been a fabrication. The news is ALWAYS non-partisan and reliable.
I like the sentiment, but I feel that message films work better in allegorical form. A person going to see Selma is already going in with predisposed notions, no matter what their age. But, let's say you were to see a sci-fi film about the divisions between different races of aliens. . . That could sneak under the radar. And you really have to sneak the knowledge in, because people don't like being told that they're acting like idiots. And the dumber someone is, the tighter they hold onto their "ideals".
Heh. MY favorite is the "proof" that Cshopper15 offers up in his link. Don't know about you, but I'll ALWAYS place my trust in a 48-second snippet of a video where I can mostly only hear the one guy closest to the mike screaming "Kill Da Bill!" as Lewis passes him. VERY reliable source there, bud.
Check out Oyelowo in the first season of '5 Days'. Aside from all the noise about calling Lewis and Frank epithets, (which happened, idiots. Look it up.), the film sounds great and the casting is special. Can't wait.
good piece, but movies don't matter, they don't change anything. If 40 years of equal rights has led to some teabagging fascists shouting nigger in 2010, then it's going to take a lot more than a movie to make a difference.
As has been said, there is video and audio of the event and there appears to be no validity to the accusation. Which means the guy made up an inflammatory accusation to try and gain sympathy. Nice.
Wheres the proof? politicians lie! I'm glad my taxes go up so I can pay for your fat unheathy ass to get insurence Devin.
Um, if the chant did happen as reported (don't know one way or the other), it is reprehensible but still within the rights of the idiots to chant. Eliminating racism does not mean that everyone has to like everyone or even tolerate everyone. It simply means that you can't discriminate based on race. Everyone has the right to love/like/dislike or hate who ever the hell they want for whatever reason they want. Should people be more enlightened and tolerant. Yes. Will it ever happen. No.
I don't think it was a chant, rather someone just yelled it at Lewis. It's still disgusting, though, and so was the idiot who yelled "faggot!" at Barney Frank.
We need another civil rights movie about as much as we need another holocaust movie.
I'm always amused and saddened by folks that exhibit visceral hatred at an entire swath of the public because of their political affiliations.
And, as a high school American History teacher, I can tell you this: The next generation is absolutely inundated with, and bored to tears by, the Civil Rights movement. They've read Beloved, Uncle Tom's cabin, etc. Frederick Douglass through Langston Hughes and Toni Morrison. They've read about the Freedom Riders. King's letters from jail. The whole nine. They've seen it heard it, written about it, talked about it. Done poster projects on it. And on and on. I teach at an urban school, so maybe it's different in the heartland, but come on.
Just my opinion. Feel free to go back to calling each other fascists and socialists or whatever.
How is disagreeing with a bill on health care racist? I guess if you're a liberal, and profoundly intellectually lazy, it is. Why debate an issue with reason and facts, when you can just call everyone who disagrees with you "racist?"
According to liberals, we should agree with every Democrat bill, viewpoint, vote, etc., because any disagreement is racist because the president happens to be black. And these smug assholes think they're the smartest people in the country?
When they get creamed in the next election cycle, they'll just claim the entire country is ignorant and racist, because they never recognized their towering intellect. I kind of hope they walk around terrified of their fellow Americans, after spending years looking down on them.
I believe this movie will bomb. Americans are tired of being called racist when they're not. Liberals will keep racism alive for eternity, because they can use it whenever they are losing an argument….I'm sorry, they'll use it so they don't even have to START a discussion or argument, because it's easy, and lazy.
John Boehner and Michael Steele seem to think it happened. I guess they are intellectually lazy liberals. Who'd have guessed?
I hope there is a scene in Captain America 2 where Cap (chris evans) and The Falcon (Will Smith) plot to kill a bunch of Tea Baggers…lol…if you read comics you know why this is funny…Devin I think you know what Im talking about…
Great post, Devin. Ignore the disingenuous little douche nozzles like Dale.
"just because I have a noose hanging in my front yard and hate all coloreds doesn't mean I am racists, it just means you are too intellectually lazy to put up a good fight" – Dale
I love how the Conservative defense to "they shouted racial epithets at Lewis" is, "no they didn't." OOOOOOH, nice comeback!
Dale ….. WTF! America is known around the world as a racist country! I'm shocked at what I hear come out of Americans mouths sometimes! If you look up 'racist' in some dictionaries you can actually see a picture of 'Bubba Joe Cracker' next to the definition!!
Ben Olko – tell me there chief, how many European countries have black people not only in high levels of government, but as their damn leaders? Oh, none? Europe is way more racist and anti-semitic than the U.S. could ever be. Fact.
Comments are shown as archived from the original site; new comments are closed.