Selma: A Moving Tribute

I couldn’t wait to see the movie Selma and when I saw it I was not disappointed.   The story was well written and the characters well developed.  The movie was moving.  I found myself crying at various points in the movie as I was moved by the commitment and sacrifice of those who were apart of the movement.   Ava DuVernay did a great job directing and she definitely deserves an award for a job well done!

It is hard to do a period piece like this when so many of the characters are so well known.  The actors were superb across the board.  David Oyelowo pulls off Martin L. King Jr..  I was doubting if he or anyone could live up to playing Dr. King but he does.  His character is very convincing.  Oprah’s brings Anna Lee Cooper to life as the movie shows the leadership roll so many women played in the movement.  

Bayard Rustin is highlighted in the movie and I was pleased to see this.  His leadership is understated in many of the history books but in this movie his brilliance as a leader shines through.  I was very pleased to see that the writer, Paul Webb, did such a good job being true to the story of the struggle.   The movie doesn’t take liberties with history and turn it into fiction.  

In the end we sat in this movie and we cried, clapped, cheered and felt what so many sacrificed for the soul of this country.  You see the brilliance of the leaders and the plan they had to make a difference.  The characters were made human in the movie, they were just regular people who were committed making America a more just place.  This movie called me to continue the struggle.  The movement is not over.  We have battles to fight and this movie called me to continue the struggle.  Will you go see the movie and continue the struggle?  What do we owe those who fought so hard for us to enjoy the rights we enjoy today?

What does your future hold? Creating the future you desire!

@Ralph Basui Watkins - December 16, 2014

For the past two years I have been tracking the changes along Auburn Avenue here in Atlanta.  It has been interesting seeing the coming of the new Atlanta Streetcar that promises to reconnect Auburn Avenue with downtown Atlanta.  The street is starting to change, while the change is slow, it is noticeable. 

@Ralph Basui Watkins - October 21, 2013 - Streetcar Construction

What I have learned, among many things about change is that it is slow and the change agent must persevere, be persistent and patient.  While ads promise us change with no work and overnight that is not how lasting change occurs.

As I process the change happening along Auburn Avenue I ask what will remain, what should remain?  What must Auburn Avenue hang onto if it is to be the “The Historic District”?  Is there a natural tension between progress and history?  Can progress embrace the past in way that is respectful and tactful?  Will the progress we make forget from whence we have come and who has helped us get to the place we presently find ourselves?

 

Ralph Basui Watkins - December 12, 2014

As we end this year and we begin to plan for next year who is it that you are trying to become?  What are those things in your life that you want to change?  Who are those people or institutions that you have to redefine the relationship if the change you want is going to occur? How will you embrace and develop your future in conversation and relationship with your pass?  When all is said and done change and progress have to be planned endeavors.   What are your plans for your tomorrow? 

@Ralph Basui Watkins - December 12, 2014

@Ralph Basui Watkins - September 25, 2013

Rage or Revolution: What is really going on?

@Ralph Basui Watkins

“The camera loves the black subject whose struggle for equality represent the possibilities of American democracy.”

Nicole R. Fleetwood

Troubling Vision: Performance, Visuality, and Blackness

Can we believe what we see? The images of protest all over our screens.  From the television, to the tablet to the cell phone, be it on Twitter, Instagram or YouTube…we are seeing mass protest.  The images project a groundswell of revolutionary activity and a demand for justice but are the images a message or a movement?  Do the images speak of promise or reality? Are the images lying to us?  Are we being lulled to sleep by what we see as a promise of what can be but has yet to be realized?

@Ralph Basui Watkins

The quote from Nicole Fleetwood is what sparked this blog.  I am reading her book this week and she pushes me to reflect on America’s fetish with black images of protest as a fulfillment of the promise upon which they are calling America to realize.  The image of protest becomes the icon upon that makes us think something is happening. We begin to worship the image of protest while not asking the more serious question: what are the real results of the protest as it relates to fundamental change in an oppressive institutionalized system?

 

@Ralph Basui Watkins

As I sat in Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta last week I pondered what was really happening here?  Eric Holder was present along with local leaders, politicians and young leaders of the next movement.  There was an obvious generational divide in the room and in the end the young adults and their leader marched out. I followed them, took pictures, shoot video, posted it and felt like something happened that night and it did but what?  What is next?  What will change?  Weeks after the mass meeting African Americans are still being shoot by police, murderous police officer are not being indicted and the images of protest continue to fill our newsfeed.  What is really going on?

 

@Ralph Basui Watkins

At the meeting at Ebenezer the esteemed Rev. C. T. Vivian said, “We had a method.  That is why we won.  We had a method.” We have to have a method that engages the powers that maintain and support systems of oppression and dismantle the systems they have nurtured and supported over the years.  This is a process of dismantling a structure of oppression.  So while we post images, have protest and shout from the roof tops let us not forget to sit, think, strategize and make real lasting change that takes the chains off of our people.  What are you willing to sacrifice for change?  What is the promise in your protest that makes the environment you live in freer?

More pictures from the mass meeting.

The Revolution is Being Televised