Reader would like Wilcox Theaters to show ‘Selma’
Published 8:53 am Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Dear editor.
The film Selma is an important record of one of the most important events in modern American history — the march at Selma, Alabama, in 1965, as part of the Civil Rights Movement of that time. The film is being shown in every American city. It is so important that it should be seen by every American, especially every Southerner. We are in part the product of our past.
Every city, that is, except Vicksburg. When I stopped at the Vicksburg Mall, Wilcox Cinema, to inquire whether and when this film would be shown, the owner, David Wilcox, responded that they would never be showing this film, because they didn’t show films of that type.
While I have no knowledge of Mr. Wilcox’s sympathies, and while he has the right to decide how he operates his business, I wonder if he might not have other reasons? He cited various reasons, but they changed each time he spoke. Could it be, rather, that the subject matter of Selma — voting rights for African Americans and issues of social justice — are not acceptable or important to him?
I suspect that right thinking citizens of the Vicksburg area might be taken aback at such policies by a local business which is a medium of communication and information as well as entertainment; they might decide not to patronize a business with sensibilities so insensitive to its local potential audience’s concerns.
Show Selma, Mr. Wilcox!
DMM Simonton
Fayette, Miss.