Watch and discuss the film that chronicles Martin Luther King’s campaign to secure equal voting rights via an epic march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in 1965.
After the end of segregation Dr. Martin Luther King receives Nobel Prize amidst the still heated south of the USA, with the then recent church bombing that claimed five little girls lives. D. king meets with President Lyndon Johnson, demanding him to act on black peoples right to vote. When Johnson evades, Dr. King goes to Selma Alabama where blacks are of more than fifty percent of population but are still restricted from voting. The white supremacists are embodied in the Sheriff Jim Clark. Dr. King says the movement needs drama to attract Johnsons attention. First they stand in front of the county registration, which ends in arrests. While Dr. King is in prison, his wife meets with Malcolm X, the leader of the other polar of the black movement. X tells her that hes views of Dr. King has changed and hes willing to help, although in a harsh way.
When Dr. King gets out of jail and is out Selma, an unofficial gathering happens at night that ends in violence as troopers disperse the crowds. A boy Jimmy Lee Jackson is killed in that incident. Soon the group decides to have a march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. The march ends in total violence where the participants are bludgeoned and beaten and all the imagery are captured on TV and news papers. Dr. King didnt walk with them as its expected to end in violence as Johnsons aide told them. He calls out to all kinds of people to join the next march. Many people come to join, even whites, most of them clergy. But when the march actually goes, despite Johnsons attempt to make a deal with Dr. King, The troopers withdraw from their guard. But Dr. King backs down from his march. But that night a clergy member who participated on the march gets beaten and killed. And the court grants the legality for the march. At last President Johnson sends the Congress a bill to end the voting restrictions.
Speakers: Curtis Johnson, U.S. Embassy Hanoi
Language: English
Film Screening and Discussion “Selma” will be held on 15 Feb 2017, 9.30 am – 12.30 pm at American Center, Rose Garden Tower, 1st Floor 170 Ngoc Khanh Street, Hanoi.
