On Friday night I went with the awesome dude I’ve been seeing to see Selma. We met at the march for Eric Garner on December 4th (no, he didn’t ask for my number that night) so it made sense that we go witness this piece of cinematic history together.

I really, really liked it. It was incredibly sad, disturbing, inspiring, and enraging. Police violence is not as bad as it was in the 1960’s but some of the scenes could’ve been taken out of this movie and inserted into today’s headlines easily. I went to school at a moderately liberal high school and I don’t recall ever having learned about the marches. We learned of course who Martin Luther King Jr. was but I feel like I was totally cheated out of learning some pretty important lessons as an adolescent.

David Oyelowo was unbelievable as MLK Jr. and Carmen Ejogo was inspiring as Coretta Scott King. Everyone in the cast was stellar and all deserve shout-outs but I don’t anyone wants to read all of that in a blog post (check IMDB here). 

I feel like school’s should be taking field trips to see this movie in every single district in the country. This should be mandatory viewing for every American citizen. We’ve made progress in this country, but not anywhere near enough. History is repeating itself and I don’t think enough people know that.

Go see Selma. That’s an order. 

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