Selma Page #3

- Just like you left Albany.

Those people are pathetic

down there now.

Like they daddy left home!

What we're trying

to explain is that in Albany you all...

You know what I think?

Maybe we should just leave Selma...

Now! Leave it to these two.

Come back in another two years

and see how much further you got!

- Sounds just fine to me.

- That's enough.

Enough of this now.

I haven't the time for this.

None of us got the time for this.

John.

James.

The way our organization works

is straightforward.

We negotiate. We demonstrate.

We resist.

And on our best days, our adversary

helps the matter by making a mistake.

Now, we were in Albany for nine months

and we made a lot of mistakes.

But their sheriff, Laurie Pritchett,

he never made a mistake.

Kept his cool,

kept arresting us in a humane way,

carried people to

the jail-wagons on stretchers.

Day in, day out.

There was no drama.

You mean there was no cameras.

Exactly.

Now I know, we all understand,

that you young people

believe in working

in the community long-term.

Doing the good work

to raise black consciousness.

It's good grassroots work.

I can't tell you

how much we admire that.

But what we do

is negotiate,

demonstrate,

resist.

And a big part of that

is raising white consciousness.

And in particular the consciousness

of whichever white man

happens to be sitting

in the Oval Office.

Right now, Johnson has other fish to fry

and he'll ignore us if he can.

The only way to stop him doing that

is by being on the front page

of the national press every morning

and by being on the TV news

every night.

And that requires

drama.

Now...

John.

James.

Answer me one question.

I've been told the sheriff in this town

isn't like Laurie Pritchett in Albany.

He's a big ignorant bully

like Bull Connor in Birmingham.

Well, you tell me. You know Selma.

You know Sheriff Jim Clark.

Is he Laurie Pritchett?

Or is he Bull Connor?

He's Bull Connor.

- Bingo!

- Good.

That's good.

But it gets better.

See, Clark doesn't control the streets

like Connor did in Birmingham.

Clark's the County Sheriff,

and all he controls in Selma

is the County Courthouse.

So relatively speaking,

we have clear avenues of approach

to a defined battle zone.

In the courthouse

sits the heart of the matter,

the voter registration office.

Now this is

an exceptional circumstance.

See, in Albany, there were

no clearly defined battle zones.

The issue was segregation,

and segregation was everywhere.

In Selma, we can concentrate

our actions on one building.

A citadel, defended by fanatics.

The Selma Courthouse.

A perfect stage.

Y'all deliberately

causing an obstruction!

You don't disperse,

you're gonna be arrested.

I promise you!

Sheriff Clark,

we're trying to gain access

to the registration office.

Which is our legal right.

There's too many of you.

And you know damn well there is!

Now, y'all just gonna have

to wait at the rear!

No, Sheriff Clark.

We're going in the front

and we're gonna wait right here.

Segregation is now illegal

in this country, sir.

Get out, n*gger.

- Come on.

- I'm trying.

Kneel down, Daddy.

Come on.

Keep this sidewalk clear. Clear a path!

Get out of the way! Get out of the way!

Get the hell out of the way!

Keep the sidewalk clear!

I said keep it clear!

Okay. We about to sit him down.

He can't sit.

Then he needs to learn.

- He gonna sit.

- Sit down, God damn it!

Hey, hey! Pa? Pa?

Daddy.

I just told you he can't sit.

What do we got here?

What's going on here, boy?

What we got here? What we got here?

- Jimmie! Sit down!

- No, Mama, I'm sick of this.

- Jimmie!

- Don't do it.

Do you have a problem, boy?

I'm sick of this! I just told you...

What'd you think, boy?

What'd you think?

What the f*** are you thinking?

Get that n*gger woman!

Kill that n*gger b*tch!

Get your hands off of me!

We will not tolerate

a bunch of nigra agitators

attempting to orchestrate

a disturbance in this state.

Not as long as I'm governor.

Now, I stand here today

in the cradle of the Confederacy

to remind its people

of our Founding Fathers'

goals of duty.

Goals long since forgotten

by progressives and liberals

in favor of what they call

a changing world.

They seek to make us one mongrel unit.

Instead of allowing each race to flourish

from its separate racial station

as has been the standard

for generations now.

Good morning, Mr. President.

Their changing world

is sickening the balance

of the Southland.

Now...

I pledged to stand up

for Alabama when I campaigned

and the people elected me

on that pledge,

and that is exactly what I intend to do.

Johnson'll flinch.

I'm tired, Ralphy.

Tiring of this.

Eyes on the prize, Martin.

Yeah, but what is the prize, friend?

We fight to have a seat

at whatever table we want.

How does it help a black man

to be able to eat at a lunch counter

if he doesn't earn enough

to buy the burger?

Or worse yet, can't even...

Can't even read the menu

'cause there was no Negro school

where he's from.

What is that?

That equality?

Amen.

And what about in our minds?

Equality in the black psyche.

Look at these men.

Beaten and broken down

for generations.

Deciding to demand more?

What happens when a man stands up

and says enough is enough?

Look at Medgar.

Murdered the man in his own driveway.

Kids and wife right there

inside the house.

George and Herbert Lee, Lamar Smith.

A man stands up,

only to be struck down.

And what happens to the people he led?

What are we doing, Ralphy?

We take it piece by piece.

Like we been doing.

We build the path as we can.

Rock by rock.

This cell is probably bugged.

It probably is.

Oh, Lord.

They're gonna ruin me

so they can ruin this movement.

They are.

"Look at the birds of the air,

"that they do not sow, nor reap,

nor gather into barns,

"and yet your Heavenly Father

doth feed them.

"Are you not worth

much more than they?

"And who of you by being worried

"can add a single hour to his life?"

Matthew 6, verse 27.

All right.

Yes, sir.

What? Where did you hear that?

I overheard them talking

about him coming in this evening.

Overheard us?

I'm learning about this just like you.

We didn't do this.

That Negro can't be talking about that

"by any means necessary" madness

with these people.

They about to bust as it is.

He's on his way here, right?

So we gotta figure this out.

Right and fast.

He ain't on his way. He here.

Holy sh*t.

Are you all right?

I wish I had more time to prepare is all.

I want to do this kind of thing

whenever possible.

But I don't get to do it enough

to feel entirely comfortable.

I prefer to be prepared.

Yes, I understand that.

I admire you. I do.

Sometimes I wish

I were more out there in the trenches.

You do more than you know, Mrs. King.

I'll tell you what I know to be true.

It helps me in times

when I'm feeling unsure.

If you'd like.

Please do, Mrs. Boynton.

I know that we are descendants

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