In the
Oscar post I mentioned the excellence of the costume design. One aspect that I
found interesting was the wardrobe worn by Common's character, James Bevel. He
wore overalls, a denim jacket, and a skull cap while the other SCLC members
were generally wearing suits. I eventually found this article by Tanisha C.
Ford:
One thing
it points out is that normally the clothing of the SNCC members would be more
similar to Bevel's. The movie did not show that to keep individuals more
clearly identifiable, but it is worth noting that Bevel's activism got started
with SNCC.
Before I
found that article, I had gone to the messages boards for the movie at
IMDB.com, because I thought other people might be discussing it. Someone may
have posted about it, but it was pretty hard to find in all the racism.
I was not
really surprised that trolls were tearing down the movie; that the majority of
them posted multiple times, repetitively, to drown out productive discussion;
or that the complaints about the movie started before the movie was released.
Being a glutton for punishment, I still read some.
One of the
recurring themes by one of the frequent posters was that it was just stirring
up trouble now. These things are past and talking about them stirs up bad
feelings. I wish it were past.
Thursday
will be the 50th anniversary of Jimmie Lee Jackson's death. (He was beaten and
shot on February 18th but lingered in the hospital for several days.) The
Voting Rights Act itself was signed on August 6th, 1965. It is not even at the 50 year mark
and it is already being dismantled:
That's just
one article. It's probably not alarming enough. Read more by Ari Berman. There
is reason to be alarmed.
Police
brutality is still a problem. I know, I keep quoting this from Spies of
Mississippi:
"The
Jackson Police Department operates with the best demonstration deterrent of any
city in the country. In addition to Thompson's Tank, armor-plated and equipped
with nine machine gun positions, the arsenal includes cage trucks for
transporting masses of arrested violators, searchlight trucks, each of which
can light three city blocks in case of night riots, police dog teams, trained
to trail, search a building, or disperse a mob or crowd, mounted police for
controlling parades or pedestrian traffic, and compounds and detention facilities
to hold and house 10000 prisoners.
Along with
these ironclad police facilities are new ironclad state laws, outlawing
picketing, economic boycotting and demonstrating. Other laws to control the
printing and distribution of certain types of information, and laws to dampen
complaints to federal authorities."
Now, let's
look at this article from less than a month ago:
Commissioner
Bratton announced that the extra heavy protective gear, the long rifles, and
the machine guns are "designed for dealing with events like our recent
protests, or incidents like Mumbai or what just happened in Paris."
Bratton
later walked back that protests against police brutality should be handled the
same way as terrorist incidents, but his other quotes and track record make the
original quote seem more reflective of his actual beliefs.
There may
be less vigilante lynchings now, but there are more executions by cop:
And the
anonymous academy voter was offended by "I Can't Breathe" T-shirts, and
school counselors and police sergeants have said they will run over protesters,
plus one protester was hit by a car and the driver was not cited.
No, this
isn't old news. Talking about it may stir up bad feelings for some, but there
are bad acts already happening. Dealing with that is necessary, and I believe
the movie helps.
"The
past is never dead. It's not even past."
Faulkner
was from the South too.
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