Selma

Sreymich Lach
AP US History
Ms. Merrifield
March 1, 2015
Selma
David Oyelowo starred in Selma as Martin Luther King Jr. He gave an inspiring and heartfelt performance on the big screen, which showcased the early account of American’s civil rights struggle. The extreme racial injustice in the deep south of Alabama is portrayed in this film when Annie Lee Cooper played by Oprah Winfrey was outlandishly denied the right to register to vote by a supercilious white supremacist registrar. The opening scene was a catalyst into the historic march from Selma, Alabama to the state capital of Montgomery in March of that year. It was to protest and demand the passing of the Voting Rights Act from Congress. In 1964, Selma depicted what was wrong with society then and how society’s harsh and injustice act towards African-Americans led Dr. King to lead a demonstration. Aside from denying African-Americans the right to register to vote, segregation was a major problem, aka the Jim Crow law. Jim Crow’s “separate but equal” offended many African-Americans when they demanded equal rights in public accommodations as well equal seating on interstate bus transportation. The bombing of the 16th St Baptist Church took place a year earlier in 1963, which killed four little African-Americans girls. Dr. King was angry at the government’s handling of the issue where they convicted no one for the bombing since the white bombers were all protected by an all-white jury and especially when African-Americans cannot register to vote, they cannot serve on jury. Dr. King led a non-violent demonstration in Selma to advocate for things to change. One was asking President Lyndon Johnson (Tom Wilkinson) to legislate outlawing discriminatory voting practices. Dr. King implores but Johnson opposes, so having nowhere to turn, King turned to his people and the streets of Selma. The police brutality towards those marchers had got to be changed; there were police armed forces covering them acting as the marchers’ blockades and when they refused to disperse, tier gas and officers on horseback were killed and put down violently. Improvements were beginning to pour in as a televised segment displaying the white police force inflicting on the African-Americans was when we begin to see the whites joining in Dr. King’s march –a march that was against the Court and President Johnson’s order. It was then when they coalesced together was when the police forces withdrew and troops retreat. President Johnson ensured that the third time the march occurred, the demonstrators would be protected and it did. Ensuing that, on March 15, Johnson addressed a joint session of Congress to propose his Voting Rights Act. The president at last embraced the civil rights movement, giving blacks the right to vote, laying down laws to eliminate illegal barriers. There are things that need to be change, however, the stigma behind police brutality on African-Americans civilians is one, given the recent police misconduct incidents in America. Notably, the Michael Brown’s case in Ferguson, Mo, that has contributed to the rising racial tension in Ferguson. The protests against the police are availed against nearly all-white police force when the Grand Jury decided not to indict the white police officer that shot an unarmed Michael Brown, Mr. Wilson. Though, Dr. King has made huge strides in eradicating racism in our country, it is unfortunate that racism can never completely be erased.