James Patterson and Selma

Atlanta, GA June 12, 2014

I am filming a scene in the Oprah Winfrey production "Selma." The part came from the Alabama Film Commission and the Office of the Governor.

My late father, James G. Patterson, served in the Alabama National Guard at Selma 50 years ago in March 1965. Dad served at the third and successful march from Selma to Montgomery. He told me it was more dangerous than his service in Korea.

It was a tense time. Neighborhood racists threatened to burn our house if Dad "took his orders from Washington" to protect the civil rights marchers. My late grandfather, Sam Johnson, came to our house and played non-stop solitaire, two decks of cards, on the kitchen table with his shotgun across his lap until the march was the over and Dad was home. Sure, Grandpa Sam believed in prayer and he also believed in is shotgun. It was a lawless time and our town of about 4,000 had only one sheriff.

As you all know, I am a longtime member of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival and a Life Member of the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum in Fremont, California. My role in "Selma," which shoots Saturday in Atlanta, is a "silent" part.

In the film, I am a "press type" at a Montgomery press conference held by Governor George C. Wallace. For the uninitiated, Wallace did not approve of the march led by Nobel Peace Prize Winner Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. President Lyndon B. Johnson issued Executive Order 11207 ordering Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara to federalize the Alabama National Guard for as long as it took to get the marchers to Montgomery. The Klan was silent during the day but struck on US Highway 80 between Montgomery and Selma that night.

In my pocket, I will be carrying my dad's National Guard papers from 1965 and his photo with Alabama Governor Bentley's March 2014 Commendation too hm.