It’s something of an irony that the Left still claims to be the champion of equality and tolerance but has nowadays officially dropped both of those things in favor of identity politics. The Martin Luther King vision of a world in which people “will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character,” can’t be squared with demands for people to be treated differently based on color, let alone for Antifa-style street violence to pursue that demand. So here are four libertarian films for this Martin Luther King libertarian holiday.
Loving
A married interracial couple’s determination to reside in their home state of Virginia, in violation of Virginia laws against interracial marriage, leads to the legal overturning of all such laws in sixteen states. Based on a true story. [ Loving credits: Dir: Jeff Nichols/ Ruth Negga, Joel Edgerton, Will Dalton/ 123 min/ Drama, Romance/ Government as Bigot, Sexual Liberty, Social Tolerance]
“What [director] Nichols does — and does so exquisitely — is to show not only the deep love between two ordinary people but also…the damage an intrusive and bigoted authority can do.”
–Boston Herald
How Jack Became Black
A father forced by the public school system to categorize his multiracial children by “primary race” explores the silliness of racial identity. [ How Jack Became Black credits: Dir: Eli Steele/ 96 min/ Documentary/ Equality & Law, Individualism/ 2018]
“There is a growing group in this country who feel that they cannot be simply placed into one racial category. Yet, what if that is exactly what society is trying to make them do? This is a battle we see taking place in the new documentary How Jack Became Black.”
–The Black Geeks
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
The interracial marriage of a black man and a young white woman tests the boundaries of their parents’ enthusiasm for racial tolerance. [ Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner credits: Dir: Stanley Kramer/ Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Sidney Poitier/ 108 min/ Drama/ Social Tolerance]
“Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner is a most delightfully acted and gracefully entertaining film.”
–New York Times
To Kill A Mockingbird
A small-town lawyer defends an innocent black man accused of rape. [ To Kill a Mockingbird credits: Dir: Robert Mulligan/ Gregory Peck, Mary Badham, Phillip Alford/ 131 min/ Drama/ Social Tolerance]
“The underlying story here has a strong social tolerance theme that libertarians will certainly like, and it has as well a suggestion of the nonaggression principle. Even apart from its philosophical content, this is a terrific film. It’s thoroughly moving from beginning to end. All the characters are carefully sketched, even the lesser ones. And the two southern children at the center of this story really were southern. No faked accents here. The haunting music and small-town scenery add tremendous atmosphere. All this combines to create a nostalgic quality that’s like walking into one’s youth and another age.
–MissLiberty.com
And a bonus…this clever commercial shows how capitalism brings people together at Red House Furniture. It has 6.7 MILLION views on YouTube.
How does identity politics destroy Martin Luther King’s vision of tolerance? This three minute video from Capital Research explains. Incidentally, YouTube initially restricted access to it, apparently for the dangerous idea it explicitly promotes: the universal brotherhood and sisterhood of mankind.