[Peace-discuss] The real problem with Selma

[C. G. Estabrook]

"If the most militant person in the movie is played by Oprah, you know something is very, very wrong.”
--Prof. Abdul Alkalimat, University of Illinois
http://www.blackagendareport.com/node/14624


On Jan 26, 2015, at 8:49 PM, David Johnson <davidjohnson1451 at comcast.net> wrote:

> Karen and all,
> 
> Selma is a very powerful well done film, and like a lot of things in life,
> sometimes one has to make the best with what you have until you can get
> something better.
> In that regard, I think the film does serve a purpose in getting people to
> think about the need for mass protest and direct action in demanding social
> and economic change.
> I do recommend that people see the film.
> At the same time however we do need to be aware of propaganda subtle and
> otherwise.
> 
> David Johnson
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Carl G. Estabrook [mailto:galliher at illinois.edu] 
> Sent: Monday, January 26, 2015 7:50 PM
> To: David Johnson
> Cc: Karen Medina; peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
> Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] The real problem with Selma
> 
> David J.'s observations are, as usual, spot-on. (I just wish he'd put a
> little passion into it...)
> 
> 
> On Jan 26, 2015, at 7:26 PM, David Johnson via Peace-discuss
> <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net> wrote:
> 
>> "All the black people had flaws, and those flaws were exposed . The
> divisions among black America were demonstrated. "
>> 
>> Yes Karen it did, but remember Oprah Winfrey produces this film and hence
> she has a definite neo-liberal elitist spin to it and more important totally
> distorted the role of SNCC ( Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee )
> and one of its leaders James Forman.
>> The person who wrote this article is Adolph Reed, an African American
> Leftist scholar who I happen to know.  I seriously doubt he " just read the
> cliff notes ". You should read his entire article.
>> Here is another section of the article ;
>> 
>> "Du Vernay's vision of the local movement doesn't extend much beyond King
> and his SCLS confederates at all. Glen Ford rightly criticizes Selma's
> characterization of the SNCC radicals' relation with King and SCLS. Du
> Vernay reduces the tension to an expression of some of the SNCC activists'
> ultimately petty and juvenile turf-protectiveness. Political or strategic
> differences are beyond her purview. While license is what it is, and the
> SNCC/SCLC tension is arguably not crucial to the story she wants to tell,
> her choice to portray James Forman in particular as a young, narrow-minded
> hothead may be as revealing as it is gratuitous and inaccurate. Forman was
> one of the most systematically leftist voices in SNCC, a Korean War veteran,
> a former teacher and organizer before going to join SNCC and was actually a
> year older than King."
>> 
>> Also from Glen Ford's article via  Black Agenda Report ;
>> 
>> "Some people are missing from the film that absolutely should be in there.
> No, I'm not talking about Stokely Carmichael, although yes, he is quite
> relevant to the story. I mean the Kennedy brothers, John and Bobby, who were
> the ones who authorized the bugging of Dr. King's phones and office and
> hotel rooms. But Oprah loves the Kennedys, and so the movie leads the
> audience to believe that J. Edgar Hoover and President Lyndon Johnson set
> out to surveil and destroy King because of his push for voting rights. But
> Attorney General Robert Kennedy signed the order, while his brother, who was
> then president, was still alive. Oprah insults Black SNCC civil rights
> heroes, but she protects the white, rich Kennedys.
>> "Finally, near the end of the film, Dr. King is depicted as yearning for
> an end to mass protests, so that Black people could achieve real political
> power - quite clearly meaning the election of more Black people to office.
> As if that's what the mass movement was all about, in King's mind. We know
> that's not true, because Dr. King said the opposite in countless sermons,
> speeches, books and essays; that he was seeking social transformation, a new
> system of living. Three years after Selma, King died, still seeking to
> revive the mass movement.
>> "For Oprah Winfrey, Dr. King was just an opening act for a future
> President Obama, and for an age of billionaire Black TV celebrities."
>> 
>> Remember Oprah a few weeks ago stating that she just didn't understand
> what the Black Lives Matter organization wants because they have no clear
> message of what they want?
>> This was the exact same thing that talking heads in the corporate media
> were saying about the Occupy Movement a few years ago. They knew what the
> message of Occupy was but they were not about to talk about it, so to
> belittle the movement and confuse people they stated that they just didn't
> understand what Occupy wanted, hence implying that Occupy had no message and
> were just a bunch of Anarchist Hippies causing trouble for the hell of it..
>> I guess for someone like Oprah it is confusing since she doesn't have to
> worry about being assaulted and murdered by the police. And for a
> billionaire like her this is the best country in the world and everything is
> hunky dory.
>> 
>> David J.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> From: Peace-discuss [mailto:peace-discuss-bounces at lists.chambana.net] On
> Behalf Of Karen Medina via Peace-discuss
>> Sent: Monday, January 26, 2015 5:48 PM
>> To: Peace-discuss List
>> Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] The real problem with Selma
>> 
>> I assume these comments are about the 2014 film, Selma.
>> 
>> I will divide them. 
>> 1) 
>> ...reduction of politics to a narrative of racial triumph that projects
> "positive images" of black accomplishment, extols exemplary black
> individuals, stresses overcoming great adversity to attain success and
> recognition, and inscribes a monolithic and transhistorical racism as the
> fundamental obstacle confronting, and thus uniting, all black Americans.
> History is beside the point for this potted narrative...
>> 
>> Seriously? Anyone who says the film portrayed positive images, extols
> exemplary black individuals, and a portrayed a united black America did not
> see the film. 
>> 
>> All the black people had flaws, and those flaws were exposed.
>> 
>> The divisions among black America were demonstrated. 
>> 
>> I remember when "holy" people were writing complaints about the first
> Harry Potter book, saying that Potter was a devil worshiper. If you read the
> first book and read the complaints about the books, you would quickly
> realize that not one of the complaints reflected even the slightest truth
> about the book. 
>> 
>> I believe the same is true here. Whoever wrote this about Selma read the
> Cliff notes version and on the day that Cliff wrote it, Cliff was too busy
> to get even the smallest bit of information correct.
>> 
>> -karen 
>> 
>> 
> 

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