Brandon Varner – Features Editor
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One of the most important battles for civil rights took place on a journey across this bridge (Photo by Amber Gomez).
On March 7, 1965, a group of approximately 600 nonviolent protesters attempted to cross the Edmund Pettus bridge from Selma to Montgomery to fight for equal voting rights for all.
These protestors were met with brutal violence which was publicized all over the world. By the time they began their final march on the capitol on March 21, President Lyndon B. Johnson sent around 4,000 federal troops to protect the group which had ballooned to 25,000 marchers. The Voting Rights Act was signed into law in Aug. of that year, federally enforcing the right to vote for all citizens.
The Selma to Montgomery marches were an important waypoint in the fight for equality. In the 50 years since, America saw the protesters walk across the Edmund Pettus bridge, there have been many more triumphs.
Voting rights laws have been significantly relaxed, the American populace has more openly embraced people of color, and America has elected its first black president.
This past Sunday, March 7, that very same president came to Selma and gave a stirring commemorative speech for the first march’s 50th anniversary. President Barack Obama touched on many issues at the foot of the Edmund Pettus bridge, where the famous marches took place throughout that fateful month.
“We gather here to honor the courage of ordinary Americans willing to endure billy clubs and the chastening rod; tear gas and the trampling hoof,” Obama said. “Men and women who, despite the gush of blood and splintered bone, would stay true to their North Star and keep marching toward justice.”
The sacrifices of the people that worked to help bring issues of oppression to light were honored throughout last weekend with several events and workshops to help people learn more about the troubling issues of our time.
Many of these events were not only to celebrate the marchers of Selma, but also to educate people about the continuing fight for equal rights of not only black Americans, but all Americans.
“Because of what they did, the doors of opportunity swung open not just for African-Americans, but for every American,” said Obama. “Women marched through those doors. Latinos marched through those doors. Asian-Americans, gay Americans and Americans with disabilities came through those doors.”
Many workshops carried the rhetoric of the current fight for equality with topics concerning the mass incarceration of African-Americans due to the drug war, environmental justice and Latino immigrant activism after House Bill 56.
This anniversary was a great chance for Americans to take another look back down that long bridge that leads from Selma to Montgomery in order to take stock of their views.
