'Selma' film, Ferguson protests spark debate within Omaha's black community

I'm going to see it Tuesday with my college age granddaughter. She picked up grandma and grandpa's political activism.



BILL HUDSON/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Singing African Americans, many of them teenagers, line up for a march during a voter registration protest in Selma, Alabama, on Feb. 5, 1965.

http://www.omaha.com/news/metro/selma-film-ferguson-protests-spark-debate-within-omaha-s-black/article_46a9350a-b6d2-5ee4-8f0c-8d28d0caf916.html

POSTED: FRIDAY, JANUARY 9, 2015 1:00 AM
By Bob Fischbach / World-Herald staff writer

History may not exactly repeat itself, but the echo is sometimes hard to ignore.

“Selma,” a movie about 1965 civil rights history that opened here Thursday, has gained extra buzz in Omaha’s African-­American community in the wake of recent protests.


THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Sign-carrying protesters sing and chant as they stage a demonstration at the courthouse in Selma, Alabama, on Feb. 5, 1965.


“Selma” recounts the 1965 civil rights protest marches in Alabama, led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., that spurred passage of the federal Voting Rights Act. It’s frequently mentioned as an Oscar contender for best picture.

Current protests over civil rights have put a new spotlight on race in America. This time the issue is the deaths of unarmed black people at the hands of white police officers in New York City, Cleveland, Ferguson, Missouri, and elsewhere.

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