‘SELMA’…MORE REVISIONIST HISTORY FROM HOLLYWOOD???

And so here we have another one of those movies which I have no intention of spending any of my hard-earned money on.  For me, the sole purpose for going to the movies, on those rare occasions when I can be convinced to do such a thing, is to be entertained. It’s not to be lectured to, or to be taught some sort of lesson that the maker of the movie thinks I should be taught.  And it’s not to be subjected to some twisted Hollywood version of past events such as this one.

The movie to which I refer is “Selma”.  This supposed widely acclaimed example cinematography which, or so we are told, is about the 1965 Civil Rights movement.  But it seems that there are those who are not fans of movie is, those who were present at the time these events actually took place.  It seems that Hollywood’s version of this time in our history disappointed at least one moviegoer, none other than a leading historian of president Lyndon Johnson.

And just who it that was less than impressed with this latest attempt of revisionist history?  Well, none other than the director of the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, which hosted a major civil rights summit earlier this year and that was headlined by four U.S. presidents, who apparently thinks that the film which opened on Christmas Day incorrectly portrays Johnson as being somewhat of an obstructionist to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 

As I mentioned earlier, "Selma" is supposedly based on the 1965 marches from the Alabama cities of Selma to Montgomery that were led by Dr. King.  It was during a time that marchers were calling for voting rights.  As is usually the case, it’s always a good idea to take movies such as this with a grain of salt, realizing that there is little historical fact contained.  Sadly though, there those who take such movies as being an accurate portrayal of events as they occurred.

It is in this particular instance that we have LBJ Library Director Mark Updegrove who has now made the claim that the film unfairly casts Johnson as a sort of composite character who represents many of the obstacles blacks faced in getting civil rights laws passed. What history shows, at least according to Mr. Updegrove, is that Johnson and King had a partnership.  He said Johnson and King did have disagreements, but not like the film suggests.

Updegrove called the portrayal unfortunate given the current racial climate following the deaths of two unarmed black men at the hands of police.  He said, "When racial tension is so high, it does no good to suggest that the president of the U.S. himself stood in the way of progress a half-century ago. It flies in the face of history."  Actually, what actually flies in the face of history may just be the claims made by Mr. Updegrove that Johnson was anything but a racist.

A spokes’moron’ for Paramount Pictures, the studio that released the film, did not immediately return messages for comment Wednesday.  "Selma" has apparently been nominated for four Golden Globe awards, including best picture for a drama and best director.  But with the entertainment industry being what it is, and pretty deeply rooted in political correctness, that most likely has much more to do with it subject matter than it does with anything else.

Back in April, it was Updegrove and the LBJ Library that commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act with a summit that included appearances by four of the five living U.S. presidents. And it was Barry “Almighty” that closed out the event with a speech that lauded Johnson's congressional deal-making and push for greater racial equality.  But for a commemoration to take place in such a venue has since seemed a bit ironic to me.

While there are those who may take exception to the way the movie portrays Johnson, what history does show us is that, like the majority of those in his party, the Democrat Party, then as now, he was a pretty devout racist.  And what seems to have been long forgotten is the fact that had it not been for a sizable majority of congressional Republicans, the Civil Rights Act, that today’s Democrats very loudly take credit for, would never have been passed.