A civil rights-era militia: brave and largely forgotten

Welcome to Bogalusa, La., in the mid-1960s, where indignity takes many forms.

A black woman eyeing a fashionable hat in the local boutique gets the evil eye from a white salesclerk. The woman’s husband, Marcus, gets an equally chilly stare when he greets his boss at the paper mill.

Later, at a civil rights rally that suddenly turns violent, the police beat Marcus mercilessly even as he tells them he is only there trying to protect his activist teenage daughter. “That’s a privilege you just don’t have,” a cop tells him.

At that moment, Marcus reaches his limit.

“Deacons for Defense,” a Showtime original movie that can be seen Sunday night at 8, recounts the true story of how a group of seemingly ordinary black churchgoers like Marcus shunned nonviolence and formed a militia, risking their lives to protect their community by battling the local Klansmen and cops -- who were often one and the same. The Deacons, whose efforts helped spur integration in local workplaces and schools, became a focal point of the civil rights movement, although their story has since been largely forgotten.

Forest Whitaker, as the reluctant hero Marcus (a composite of three actual Deacons), makes a convincing transformation that propels the picture, finding righteous strength in the manner of Clint Eastwood in “Unforgiven.”

Jonathan Silverman co-stars as Deane, a white civil rights activist from the North who stirs Marcus’ skepticism.

Marcus resents what he sees as Deane’s “summer vacation” slumming, especially as the Ku Klux Klan steps up its terror campaign in retaliation for the peaceful protests Deane organizes.

Ossie Davis, as the Rev. Gregory, who urges diplomacy even as the Deacons take up arms, brings his usual eloquence.

Directed by Bill Duke from a script by Richard Wesley and Frank Military (based on Michael D’Antonio’s book), “Deacons for Defense” may lack subtlety at times but it packs a punch -- just like the people it portrays.