A timely new movie just came out streaming on Netflix. Shirley tells the story of an African American congresswoman in the 70’s who made a bid for the US Presidency on the Democratic Party ticket. Shirley Chisholm was ultimately unsuccessful at securing her party’s nomination, but the path she took to that failure is truly inspiring. In our own national moment in which this political party has recently lost a presidential election, a story like Chisholm’s can provide hope and healing for the future.

Shirley’s Christian convictions are especially poignant in this new film. In a telling episode when her chief opponent, Governor George Wallace, is shot, she decides to visit him in the hospital. Though Wallace is an avowed racist, she cares not for the optics of her visitation, and says only that she understands what it is like to survive an assassination attempt. She wanted to comfort him in his suffering and challenge him that perhaps God had spared his life like he did hers to do great things. She does not presume to know what those are, but her kindness and compassion eventually do cause Wallace to relent on some of his more strident views toward African Americans.

The movie also does a terrific job at portraying all the various relationships she has to navigate with family and friends. It does not romanticize all of her actions or demonize all of her opponents; rather, each person is taken in turn and made very relatable by their passionate perspective and their various shortcomings. Would that all of our candidates for President of the United States had this kind of cinematic treatment of their life and legacy. I highly recommend the time to learn about this important candidate for high office who reposed just a few decades ago.