I couldn't help but think that so much has NOT changed as I watched the story about African-American struggle for voting rights. One of the first criticisms I heard was that LBJ was not an obstructionist and so this film should be discredited because they portrayed him as such. When I watched it, I didn't see it that way. LBJ was a good man, who did sincerely believe in voting rights, but he was also a tactical politician. That came across, but it was not a big part of the story, in my opinion. The main lesson is that people DO need to be reminded of the struggle and that there was real hatred, real racism, which continues today. My hope is that people who are critical of the protests over Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and others will be more compassionate by being reminded (or perhaps told for the first time) of the context, and the struggle, for full civil rights.
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