The movie Selma was great in the fact that it told the story of the non violent protests led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr to eventually establish The Voting Rights Act of 1965. The Selma To Montgomery march was a vital point of the Civil Rights Movement as it helped further the instituting of basic human rights promised to individuals in this country yet blacks were denied these basic human rights simply because of the color of their skin. The movie depicted many of the tragic events that made news and even many more that didn’t make the national news during this march.
The police brutality, the killings of innocent blacks and whites that supported the protest for the right to vote, the Birmingham church bombing and the strategic planning for advancing freedoms to the oppressed were all on full display in Selma. One part of Selma that could have and should have been further developed was Malcolm X’s role in the Voting Rights Act of 1965 coming to fruition. Malcolm X was a prominent leader in the Civil Rights and was just as important to the advancement of black people in the United States of America as Dr. Martin Luther King. Negative Media and some negative Hollywood portrayals of Malcolm X are the reason that some of his fruits are not completely understood or appreciated.
SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) requested Malcolm X to come speak and on February 4th 1965 he addressed a group of people at Brown Chapel AME Church. The impact of Malcolm speaking in the tense Selma climate at that time (Dr. King was in jail) was a perfect move for letting the power structure know that power can combat power with power plays. This uniting of King and X was the perfect threat to evoke change. Although Malcolm would not live to see the Voting Rights Act passed, his role in the instituting of this is huge.
