National

About 100 Set Out to Retrace Selma-to-Montgomery March

Published

9 years ago

March 10, 2015

People cross Edmund Pettus Bridge marching towards Montgomery, Monday, March 9, 2015, in Selma, Ala.to mark the 50th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday,” a civil rights march in which protesters were beaten, trampled and tear-gassed by police at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

KIM CHANDLER, Associated Press

SELMA, Ala. (AP) — Dozens of marchers set out across Selma’s Edmund Pettus Bridge Monday with plans to walk to the Alabama Capitol, saying the voting rights won by blood in Selma 50 years ago are now under threat.

The marchers are recreating the Selma-to-Montgomery Voting Rights March of 1965. The 54-mile trek is recreated every five years, but organizers say this year is particularly important.

Marchers called for the restoration of the preclearance requirement of the Voting Rights Act. The U.S Supreme Court in 2013, in a case also arising out of Alabama, struck down the formula that determined which states had to get permission from the Justice Department before changing voting laws.

“The heart of it has been taken out,” Southern Christian Leadership Conference President Charles Steele, 68, said. Steele said about 50 people will try to make the full walk to Montgomery.

Here are some stories from the current march:

A NEW MOVEMENT

Bernard Lafayette, 74, was just 20-years-old when he joined the Freedom Riders to challenge segregation across the American South. He suffered three cracked ribs when he was beaten by a mob outside a bus station in Montgomery.

Selma was considered even more dangerous, he said.

Lafayette in 1962 volunteered to come to the city as a voter registration director with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee

He was beaten by an unknown assailant in 1963, the same night Medgar Evers was murdered in Mississippi.

A black and white photo stored on the smartphone stashed in his jacket pocket shows him at the front of the march in 1965, alongside Andrew Young and other fresh-faced civil rights workers.

Lafayette smiled at the children, some as young as 11, walking ahead. That makes him optimistic about the future.

“Look at those young people up there. They are middle school, high school. We were the young people in our day. Now we see ourselves,” Lafayette said.

Behind him, young marchers sang a song with lyrics about Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner — who died after being placed in a choke hold by a police officer in New York. ”

“That’s a new song. That’s how you can tell you’ve got a movement, when you’ve got new songs,” Lafayette said.

THEN AND NOW

John Rankin, 68, wearing an orange reflective vest and an “I love Jesus” button, walked past the charred and abandoned shells of homes on the now-closed Craig Air Force base on the outskirts of Selma.

The homes were turned into a low-rent housing development, but many are uninhabitable after being burned, vandalized or looted. The region remains swathed in poverty, he said, noting that the lock manufacturer where he worked as a lead man closed more than a decade ago.

“We have a long way to go. People need good jobs,” Rankin said.

Rankin was just a teen when he was cracked on the head by a club during Bloody Sunday.

“We were just expecting to go to jail we weren’t expecting to get beat up,” Rankin said.

Fifty years later, there is an African-American president and Jim Crow laws are long eradicated, but in some ways Selma is “not that much” different.

The schools are segregated again, he said, as white families pay for private school and the public schools are almost entirely black students or other minorities.

YOUNG MARCHER

Eleven-year-old Desiree Robertson carried an American flag helping lead the group of marchers down a rolling stretch of highway.

Does she think she’s up for the entire 54-mile walk? Well, yeah.

“I did it when I was 8. It was fun,” Robertson said.

Her uncles marched in 1965 and her grandmother is involved in the civil rights commemorations in Selma.

Robertson said she is missing school for the march, but learning history.

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Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024

Published

4 days ago

April 19, 2024

Oakland Post

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Barbara Lee

Congresswoman Barbara Lee Issues Statement on Deaths of Humanitarian Aid Volunteers in Gaza 

On April 2, a day after an Israeli airstrike erroneously killed seven employees of World Central Kitchen (WCK), a humanitarian organization delivering aid in the Gaza Strip, a statement was release by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA-12). “This is a devastating and avoidable tragedy. My prayers go to the families and loved ones of the selfless members of the World Central Kitchen team whose lives were lost,” said Lee.

Published

6 days ago

April 17, 2024

Oakland Post

Congresswoman Barbara Lee

By California Black Media

“This is a devastating and avoidable tragedy. My prayers go to the families and loved ones of the selfless members of the World Central Kitchen team whose lives were lost,” said Lee.

The same day, it was confirmed by the organization that the humanitarian aid volunteers were killed in a strike carried out by Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Prior to the incident, members of the team had been travelling in two armored vehicles marked with the WCF logo and they had been coordinating their movements with the IDF. The group had successfully delivered 10 tons of humanitarian food in a deconflicted zone when its convoy was struck.

“This is not only an attack against WCK. This is an attack on humanitarian organizations showing up in the direst situations where food is being used as a weapon of war. This is unforgivable,” said Erin Gore, chief executive officer of World Central Kitchen.

The seven victims included a U.S. citizen as well as others from Australia, Poland, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Palestine.

Lee has been a vocal advocate for a ceasefire in Gaza and has supported actions by President Joe Biden to airdrop humanitarian aid in the area.

“Far too many civilians have lost their lives as a result of Benjamin Netanyahu’s reprehensible military offensive. The U.S. must join with our allies and demand an immediate, permanent ceasefire – it’s long overdue,” Lee said.

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Commentary

Commentary: Republican Votes Are Threatening American Democracy

In many ways, it was great that the Iowa Caucuses were on the same day as Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We needed to know the blunt truth. The takeaway message after the Iowa Caucuses where Donald Trump finished more than 30 points in front of Florida Gov. De Santis and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley boils down to this: Our democracy is threatened, for real.

Published

7 days ago

April 16, 2024

Oakland Post

It was strange for Iowans to caucus on MLK day. It had a self-cancelling effect. The day that honored America’s civil rights and anti-discrimination hero was negated by evening. That’s when one of the least diverse states in the nation let the world know that white Americans absolutely love Donald Trump. No ifs, ands or buts.

By Emil Guillermo

In many ways, it was great that the Iowa Caucuses were on the same day as Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

We needed to know the blunt truth.

The takeaway message after the Iowa Caucuses where Donald Trump finished more than 30 points in front of Florida Gov. De Santis and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley boils down to this: Our democracy is threatened, for real.

And to save it will require all hands on deck.

It was strange for Iowans to caucus on MLK day. It had a self-cancelling effect. The day that honored America’s civil rights and anti-discrimination hero was negated by evening.

That’s when one of the least diverse states in the nation let the world know that white Americans absolutely love Donald Trump. No ifs, ands or buts.

No man is above the law? To the majority of his supporters, it seems Trump is.

It’s an anti-democracy loyalty that has spread like a political virus.

No matter what he does, Trump’s their guy. Trump received 51% of caucus-goers votes to beat Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who garnered 21.2%, and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who got 19.1%.

The Asian flash in the pan Vivek Ramaswamy finished way behind and dropped out. Perhaps to get in the VP line. Don’t count on it.

According to CNN’s entrance polls, when caucus-goers were asked if they were a part of the “MAGA movement,” nearly half — 46% — said yes. More revealing: “Do you think Biden legitimately won in 2020?”

Only 29% said “yes.”

That means an overwhelming 66% said “no,” thus showing the deep roots in Iowa of the “Big Lie,” the belief in a falsehood that Trump was a victim of election theft.

Even more revealing and posing a direct threat to our democracy was the question of whether Trump was fit for the presidency, even if convicted of a crime.

Sixty-five percent said “yes.”

Who says that about anyone of color indicted on 91 criminal felony counts?

Would a BIPOC executive found liable for business fraud in civil court be given a pass?

How about a BIPOC person found liable for sexual assault?

Iowans have debased the phrase, “no man is above the law.” It’s a mindset that would vote in an American dictatorship.

Compare Iowa with voters in Asia last weekend. Taiwan rejected threats from authoritarian Beijing and elected pro-democracy Taiwanese vice president Lai Ching-te as its new president.

Meanwhile, in our country, which supposedly knows a thing or two about democracy, the Iowa caucuses show how Americans feel about authoritarianism.

Some Americans actually like it even more than the Constitution allows.

About the Author

Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. He does a mini-talk show on YouTube.com/@emilamok1.