I am watching the movie Selma having visited Birmingham and Montgomery Alabama this past summer. At first, I looked at it like a history lesson. The Civil Rights Movement was powerful and put the wheel of change in motion. It brings me to tears to see how things were in Alabama in 1965 especially the first time they tried to cross the bridge. It infuriates me and my blood is boiling. An unarmed Jimmy Lee Jackson was shot in the stomach and severely beaten for trying to protect his mother from the State Police. Denied access to the local hospital, JImmie Lee died a few days later. At his funeral, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. included this in his speech:
“Who murdered Jimmy Lee Jackson? Who murdered Jimmy Lee Jackson? We know a State Trooper under the orders of Governor George Wallace murdered him. But how many fingers were on the trigger? Who murdered Jimmy Lee Jackson? Every white law man who abuses the law to terrorize. Every white politician who feeds on prejudice and hatred . Every white clergy man that preaches the bible and stays quite in front of his congregation. Who murdered Jimmy Lee Jackson? Every negro man and women who stays silent and not join in this fight while our brothers and sisters are humiliated and ripped from this planet.”
– Martin Luther King Jr. “Selma” at Jimmy Lee Jackson’s funeral in 1965.
It is great that the Civil Rights Movement changed Jim Crow segregation laws and finally removed barriers allowing African-Americans to vote. But not everything has changed for the better. While this was history, I can’t help but apply Dr. Kings speech to today’s police shootings of unarmed African-American young men. Though more than 50 years ago, this same speech, with a few changes in words, could be used for Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Antwon Rose, Jordon Edwards, Stephon Clark just to name a few. Change still needs to happen. We need to rises as a Nation and say NO MORE! Let’s remove our fingers from that trigger. It is time to take a knee.