Spike Lee reached the pinnacle of his filmmaking career with last year’s BlacKkKlansman—the true story of an African American detective who infiltrated the Colorado Springs chapter of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1970s. The film is a grueling but powerful look at how the disease of racism corrodes whatever it touches. But Lee upped the emotional ante even more by segueing at the end of the film to Charlottesville 2017 as convicted murderer and alleged white supremacist James Alex Fields Jr. drove his car into a crowd of peaceful protesters. Lee’s message? Racism is not relegated to history.
Now is a good time to reflect on our faith and civic lives. This month, the NAACP will celebrate its 110th anniversary. And to commemorate Black History Month, also in February, Managing Editor Daniel Imwalle looks at the role we Christians play in race relations in his editorial “Keeping the Civil Rights Movement in Motion.”
To get where we’re going, we have to remember where we’ve been. We’re glad you’re with us on the journey.
