Bloody Sunday memorial honors late civil rights giants
SELMA, Ala. - SELMA, Ala. (AP) — The commemoration of a pivotal moment in the fight for voting rights for African Americans is honoring four giants of the civil rights movement who lost their lives in 2020, including the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis, and also highlighting the continued fight for voting rights.
The
Bloody Sunday became a turning point in the fight for voting rights. Footage of the beatings helped galvanize support for passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
This year’s commemoration comes as some states seek to roll back expanded early and mail-in voting access and efforts have been unsuccessful to restore a key section of the Voting Rights Act that required states with a history of discrimination to get federal approval for any changes to voting procedures.
“Those of us who are still living, particularly the young, need to take up the challenge and go forward because there is still so much to be done,” said former state Sen. Hank Sanders, one of the founders of the annual celebration.
The event typically brings thousands of people to Selma. However, most of the events are being held virtually this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The annual
“The movement is not over," he said as people in their cars honked in support. “What we are asking folks today is for us to commit to that moment, for us to commit to this movement.”
Others spoke via video link or in prerecorded messages. President Joe Biden appeared via a prerecorded message in which announced
“Every eligible voter should be able to vote and have that vote counted,” Biden said in the message. “If you have the best ideas, you have nothing to hide. Let the people vote.”
The two newly elected U.S. senators from Georgia — Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff — also spoke by video. Warnock remembered Lewis, whom he called both a mentor and an inspiration and spoke about the current conflict over voting access.
“Sadly there are forces at work in our country right now especially in my home state of Georgia who are trying to push back against voting rights," he said.
His case inspired the Freedom Riders of 1961 — a group of young activists who went on bus rides throughout the South to test whether court-ruled desegregation was actually being enforced. They faced violence from white mobs and arrest by local authorities.
Organizers acknowledged the fallen civil rights leaders and planned to lay wreaths at the bridge in their honor.
The march across the Selma bridge was sparked by events in
Although the Jackson case occurred in 1965, it has particular resonance in 2021 as the state of Minnesota prepares to try former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in the death George Floyd, an African American. Floyd died after Chauvin, who is white, pressed his knee onto Floyd’s neck while Floyd was held face-down on the ground in handcuffs, saying he couldn’t breathe. Body camera footage indicates Chauvin’s knee was on Floyd’s neck for about nine minutes. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Jury selection begins Monday.