The Emotions Are Real

I was disturbed to see “The Long Walk Home” included among the films criticized by Sheila Benson (“When ‘Nice’ Simply Isn’t Good Enough,” Calendar April 16). Yes, the film is sentimental, but it does not cheapen the emotions it introduces.

Benson criticizes the scene in which black women join hands and sing down a mob of angry white men. The scene is probably not authentic, but it indicates the importance of spirituality to the Alabama bus boycott.

Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of the importance of obeying a higher spiritual law as he led people to change unjust civil laws. The church was the true center of the activity, not just as a place to organize but as the representative of the higher authority upon which these people depended so wholeheartedly.

JEFFREY M. WHEELER

Huntington Beach