Oprah Winfrey, SELMA director, Ava Duvernay, fellow actors, Common and David Oyelowo, and hundreds of others marched on the famous Selma’s Edmund Pettus Bridge on the eve of Martin Luther King Jr. national holiday.
The unified marched served as a ‘remembrance’ to the unarmed men and women that were killed at the hands of police brutality during the 1965 Selma to Montgomery ‘voting’ marches, as well as the recent killings of unarmed black men who were gunned down by police in recent months; sparking nationwide protests to change the laws of our criminal justice system.
Common and John Legend performed their Oscar nominated song ‘Glory’ their as the group marched across the bridge as the sun set over the Alabama River.
” Every single person who was on that bridge is a hero! The idea is that hope and possibility is real -says Oprah. Look at at what they were able to do with so little, and look at how we now have so much.
If they could do that, imagine what now can be accomplished with the opportunity through social media and connection, the opportunity through understanding that absolutely we are more alike than we are different. “
By going large with politics and history Ava Duvernay, has done what few female directors get the opportunity to do. With her small ‘budget’ and serious ‘muscle’ she enlisted the help of Plan B [Brad Pitt’s company] , Oprah Winfrey, and Paramount Pictures who released the movie on Christmas Day [Dec.25 2014].
If Ava was not snubbed at the 2015 Oscar nominations, she would have gotten the chance to become the second woman to win an Academy Award. Kathryn Bigelow was the first woman to win for best director.
Sidebar: Hollywood has some serious cleaning up to do.
Speak @davidoyelowo !!! AMEN! #Selma #MarchOn
A video posted by Common (@common) on
SELMA is now! #March On.
One Love PLUM’s!