“No one can win the war individually. It takes the wisdom of the elders and the young people’s energy.”
That’s a lyric from “Glory,” written and performed by John Legend and Common. It’s the theme song of the upcoming film “
Selma,” and it encapsulates
Fred Gray’s dual roles — attorney and advocate — in the Civil Rights Movement.
Gray, an attorney who represented King, Rosa Parks and other civil rights leaders, also is a longtime minister and elder of the
Tuskegee Church of Christ in Alabama.
In a
2008 dialogue with
The Christian Chronicle, Gray discussed the role of churches and people of faith in the movement.
Fred Gray stands next to a historical marker honoring his mentor, Marshall Keeble, in Nashville, Tenn., during a reunion of Nashville Christian Institute alumni in 2012. (PHOTO BY ERIK TRYGGESTAD)
“When I hear people talk about the church not being completely involved in the Civil Rights Movement, I know that isn’t the truth,” Gray said. “I was involved. Most of the members in our church were involved. I think the Lord played a major role in bringing about civil rights.”
Critics praise the film, which is predicted to earn Oscar nominations in categories including Best Picture.
Fifty years after the events of “Selma,” as new protests in Missouri and New York appear on TV screens, the film “ends on a note of queasy triumph,” writes Scott Foundas in
Variety, “with the sense that we have come so far and yet still have so far to go, and the hope that the arc of the moral universe does indeed bend toward justice.”
“Selma,” not yet rated at press time, opens nationwide Jan. 9.