Fifty-four years ago in 1968 I saw the movie "In The Heat Of The Night" at the Fargo Theatre. Recently I saw it again at our West Acres Cinema while they were showing it as a tribute to the great actor Sidney Poitier after his death at age 94 on Jan 6th.
I enjoyed the movie since it was so well done and actor Rod Steiger was also great as the southern sheriff in this small town called Sparta, Mississippi. The movie showed the blatant racism and ignorance of the people there and in particular when four white men in a car with a rebel flag for a license plate attempted to chase down Sidney Poitier and kill him.
I thought to myself, wow, 54 years later and this country has not changed. We recently had three white men sentenced to life in prison for murdering 25-year-old Black male Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia after chasing him down. I ask, Make America Great Again??? What decade in our history was our greatest? How about, Make America Kind Again, then we will be great.
Gregory Schwartzwalter lives in Moorhead.
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