Why I don't plan on seeing the movie Selma

      My Uncle Carl, who was a farmer, once said, "Cow manure doesn't stink until you rake it up!".   His simple proverb simply means that we should at some point allow things in the past to settle and that going over those mistakes does not help in the healing process.

      It is for this reason that I don't plan on seeing the movie Selma.   Yes, Selma was some bad white
"shit" and it should never ever be repeated again against any race; black, red, yellow or white.  But to me it's like a 16 year-old who steals the family car, gets drunk, totals the car and gets arrested.   Later he grows up and becomes a responsible adult but every year at Thanksgiving he has to listen to the same story about how much money and trouble he cost the family in that infamous accident.   Each year, more and more gory details are conjured up by family members.  At some point he will stop coming to the family dinners because he doesn't want to be treated like that irresponsible teen he once was but is no more.  Will he ever be allowed to live it down?  Will hearing the story over and over change what happened?  Will he feel more loving towards the family or become more hostile and angry?   I think the answer is pretty obvious to anyone reading this that it won't accomplish any of those goals.

    In the same way, does Selma offer any new insight?   Nothing that I am aware of.  I have seen the news real footage of black people being beaten and gassed at Selma.  It was horrible.  I know of the tremendous courage of Martin Luther King to stand up to those in power with the conviction of "Non-Violence".  It's all there and it's all true, but that doesn't mean I have to relive it or flog myself with a scourge until I paint the floor with my own blood either.   I feel no need execute any form of penance for things neither I nor my parents or grandparents did as my ancestors came well after the Civil War and lived no where near the South or had anything to do with the KKK.  What impact will Selma have on our current generation of black youths who will undoubtedly feel anger and hatred towards non-blacks?   Will it increase the violence we see today towards our police who are only doing their job to protect our communities?  Will it foster more new violence (only this time without good people like MLK to hold them back)?   

     Every nationality or race has been discriminated against at some point in our worlds history.  The Irish were treated horribly in the 19th century and given jobs too dangerous for a slave to do because they cost so much to own.  The Chinese were looked down upon and treated horrible during the building of the railroad.   My own people, the Germans,  during WWII were treated as spies and kept from speaking their own German language (the government even made it illegal to speak German in church) and many were incarcerated wrongfully.   Were they discriminated against?  Of course they were.  But do I as a 3rd generation American need to be cognoscente of it or have our government issue some grand apology for those actions?   Of course not!

    To me, movies like "Selma" or "12 Years a Slave" are like trying to drive down the highway while looking behind you instead of ahead of you.  Of course you will see where you've been but you won't be able to avoid the obstacles coming your way.   At some point you will have to stop looking over your shoulder and start looking ahead and say

 "What's done is done.  Tomorrow will be better".