A documentary on Selma’s role in the civil rights movement and its role in the future of civic engagement will be available online Aug. 20 after it previewed in Selma on Aug. 14.
“Selma, Beacon of Hope” is a short film “portraying Selma’s fierce spirit and how the community can help lead and inspire the country,” according to a video promoting the film. The film features many community leaders and dignitaries, including District Judge Vernetta Perkins-Walker and Becky Nichols, director of the Selma-Dallas County Public Library.
The short documentary referred to Selma as a “beacon of hope” for the nation, and Perkins-Walker stated that this very real perspective must lead Selma towards its own development.
The preview at the Foot Soldiers Park auditorium featured Rich Harwood, author of the manifesto, “The New Civic Path— Restoring Our Belief in One Another and Our Nation,” with remarks from Perkins-Walker.
Harwood said he hopes the film reminds viewers that “there is a yearning in this country to come back together. There is a yearning to build together. There is a yearning to claim a sense of decency.”
The Harwood Institute, which produced the film, said on its website,
“In 1965, Selma, pierced the consciousness of the nation when civil rights’ marchers crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge. They helped us see the work we needed to do in this country to move forward in a new, more hopeful way. Today—amid our crisis of belief and widespread societal turmoil—Selma can remind us once again of the work we need to do as individuals, as communities and as a nation. It’s time to go over the bridge again.”
The preview was sponsored by The Harwood Institute, Selma-Dallas County Children’s Policy Alliance (SDCCPA), Selma-Dallas County NAACP and Foot Soldiers Park.
The film will premier nationally and exclusively from the Harwood Institute’s website Aug. 20 at 7 p.m. More information and RSVP at https://theharwoodinstitute.org/selma.
Valencia Benjamin is a Community Correspondent based in Dallas County.
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