Selma: A Platform for Theological and Political Discussion

Ava DuVernay’s Selma is an absolute must-see film and it couldn’t have debuted at a more politically appropriate time.

For a wonderful review of the movie you should read Stephanie Zacharek’s piece in the Village Voice: Ava DuVernay’s Urgent Selma Speaks to the Now. 

I could say more about the film itself, how it portrays King in all his facets, good and bad, or how it brilliantly keeps the viewer engaged throughout the entire experience, but all that’s been said.  Instead I want to pinpoint three theological themes found in the movie and end with a short discourse on the film’s relevance in a nation still struggling for racial equity.

I – Womanist Thought

“I’ll tell you what I know to be true; it helps me in times when I’m feeling unsure.  I know that we are descendants of a mighty people, who gave civilization to the world. People who survived the hulls of slave ships and crossed vast oceans. People who innovated, created, and who love, despite pressures and tortures unimaginable. They are in our bloodstream, pumping our hearts every second.  They’ve prepared you. You are already prepared.”

These words from the film are those of Amelia Boynton.  They are words of encouragement for Coretta Scott King, but they run deeper than mere encouragement.  Boynton is tapping into a source of wisdom and power far greater than any one person; it is the power of the legacy of African American women.  Traces of Womanist thought are evident throughout the movie, though never explicitly mentioned.  From Diane Nash, Coretta King, and Amelia Boynton, to Annie Lee Cooper, Mahalia Jackson, and Viola Lee Jackson, the women of the Selma movement exemplify the quiet strength of Womanism.

This strength is apparent when Annie Lee Cooper enters the courtroom for the second, third, perhaps fourth time to register to vote.  Her resilience in the face of despondency is exactly what Womanist thought inspires.  In Alice Walker’s seminal definition, she writes that Womanist is: “Usually referring to outrageous, audacious, courageous or willful behavior.  Wanting to know more and in greater depth than is considered ‘good’ for one.”  Indeed, though Lee Cooper knew the racist system would play all its cards against her, she kept going back, emboldened by the truth that she was on the right side of history, giving it her best and retaining her dignity in spite of the cruelty of the registrar.

II – Theodicy

“There are no words to soothe you, Mr. Lee.  There are no words.  But I can tell you one thing for certain.  God was the first to cry.  He was the first to cry for your boy.”

The words quoted are of Dr. King to Cager Lee in the wake of his grandson’s murder.  King’s response to Jimmie Lee Jackson’s death was one of the most touching parts of the movie.  He didn’t try to justify the evil that had taken Lee Jackson.  He didn’t give a bullshit answer about how it was all a part of God’s plan.  He brought God into the situation as God should be recognized…”this is really, really shitty and God thinks so too.”

To me, these words represent an incarnational response to the problem of evil.  God is pained when we abuse, maim, and kill one another.  God is so close to humanity, (perhaps even coexistent with creation) that S/He simultaneously endures our own feelings of grief.  King’s response reminded me of Elie Weisel’s incarnational representation of God in his book, Night.  In the concentration camp, a place where human depravity is perhaps most vividly exposed, Weisel describes God as having become a young child hanging from the gallows.  God feels our pain as if S/He were experiencing it first hand and endures our grief before we even realize we are mourning.

But there’s a flip side to this theology of incarnation.  Just as God experiences our anguish in the premature death of a loved one, or feels our pain in the brutality of a hate crime, God speaks through people in our lives to give us the necessary strength.  In the movie this is best represented by the phone call Dr. King makes to Mahalia Jackson in the wee hours of the morning.  He says, “I need to hear the Lord’s voice.”  And in that moment, God’s voice is the tired but beautiful song of an African American woman.

III – Liberation Theology

“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. Who murdered Jimmie Lee Jackson? Every Negro man and woman who stands by without joining this fight as their brothers and sisters are brutalized, humiliated, and ripped from this Earth.”

This is part of the speech, adapted for the movie, that MLK gives at Jimmie Lee Jackson’s funeral.  It almost goes without saying that Dr. King’s nonviolent movement was part of a larger liberation theology.  This liberation theology proclaims that God is on the side of the oppressed of society and that those who do not stand for the oppressed are tacitly siding with the oppressor.  Dr. King’s speech is clearly an applicable interpretation of the parable of the final judgment: “…‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me’.” –Matthew 25:45, NLT

IV – Selma and Police Brutality: How much has changed since 1965?

In his now-famous Letter from Birmingham Jail, written two years prior to the Selma march, Dr. King penned these words:

“You deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham. But your statement, I am sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations. I am sure that none of you would want to rest content with the superficial kind of social analysis that deals merely with effects and does not grapple with underlying causes. It is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the city’s white power structure left the Negro community with no alternative.”

Isn’t it unsettling that if you replace the word “Birmingham” with the word “Ferguson” it’s as if this might have been written in 2015 instead of 1963?  How much has really changed in half a century?

The violence portrayed in Selma is not merely a throwback to an abhorrent time in the distant past of U.S. history, but is also a haunting parallel to current political and social unrest.  It forces us to both admit and dissect the reality of continued racial tensions.  With police brutality a widespread hot topic, Selma serves as both a reminder that history repeats itself and a beacon of hope for change through non-violent protest.  May we turn our attention to the peaceful protests and demonstrations that are happening all across our nation in hopes of spurring meaningful, restorative conversations.

Dr. King wrote the Letter from Birmingham Jail to fellow clergy in the hopes that they’d join in the movement.  In Selma, he called the nation to join him and fellow protesters in the march for justice.  He called for persons to support the side of truth, whether they be black or white, brown or some other hue.  It is in this spirit that Barry Blitt, artist of a recent controversial New Yorker cover, expressed the following:

“It struck me that King’s vision was both the empowerment of African-Americans, the insistence on civil rights, but also the reconciliation of people who seemed so hard to reconcile…In New York and elsewhere, the tension between the police and the policed is at the center of things. Like Trayvon Martin and Eric Garner, Michael Brown and Officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos, Martin Luther King was taken way too early.”

What did you think of the movie?  How did it inspire you theologically?  What do you think of this cover?  How will you use these pieces of art as platforms for meaningful discussions?  Comments welcome below.