the rix mix

WNET PBS aired Sisters of Selma: Bearing Witness for Change last night at 10. I caught it only because The Grammys preempted Without A Trace so I was channel surfing. Sisters of Selma is about nuns who traveled to the 1965 civil rights actions in Mississippi, & a handful of nuns already serving Selma's black community. The local nuns were forbidden by their bishop from participating in the demonstrations. The nuns from St.Louis were encouraged to go by their archbishop. Two of the out-of-town nuns were black women. All the sisters were welcomed by movement organizers, providing great images of ecumenical support for the news cameras to capture. I remember them. It's a small documentary, focusing on one aspect of one moment in the civil rights movement, but it's an interesting view into the era, & raises issues we're still debating today about human rights, the role of women in the Catholic Church & religion generally, & the influence of religion in the public square. I don't know if Channel 13 will be rerunning it during Black History Month, it's not the sort of big budget historical extravaganza PBS favors. But Sisters of Selma is well worth an hour.