Our Enemy, The Pickup

If Jesse Jackson and John Kerry fell short of inspiring you yesterday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, you might want to check out Our Friend Martin. (Due to some disturbing archival footage, I'd recommend it for kids in Grade 5 and up; my daughter's dumbass second-grade teacher freaked her and some of her classmates right the **** out by showing it in class; for many reasons, she was asked not to return to teaching.)

This animated tale follows a group of schoolchildren as they study Dr. King. Everyone gets along with Cool Black Kid except for Angry White Bully. We feel for Angry White Bully, though, because his dad's an abusive redneck bigot who drives him around in a pickup truck. Can you believe that? A pickup truck! What year is this? Who knows, 'cause there's some time travel action here as well. Voices are provided by the ideologically diverse team of Ed Asner, Danny Glover, Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey.

In all, I agree with the Amazon.com "kid reviewer" who noted:

I've been forced to watch this film every year for the past five years at school. This movie is probably the stupidest thing to ever grace the Earth. If you are going to teach kids about the civil rights movement than do it right, show them a documentary or a realistic film. This movie is a real joke and the characters suck.

The movie does suck, but I recommended you see it...only to hear Susan Sarandon as the teacher praise Colin Powell as a great African American role model. Seriously, fast forward to just that line and replay it again and again. Priceless.