by Shawn Nowlin
Sixty-one years ago, on March 7, an intentional event took place in Selma, Ala., that changed the trajectory of America.
Known today as Bloody Sunday, roughly 600 civil rights marchers, led by John Lewis and Hosea Williams, walked in solidarity on U.S. Highway 80. Once the protesters crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge, they endured a wall of angry state troopers and like-minded individuals on the other side.
When commanding officer John Cloud told the demonstrators to disband and go home, Williams attempted to peacefully speak to the officer. Within a matter of seconds, troopers were shoving demonstrators, knocking them to the ground and beating some with nightsticks. The entire carnage was caught on tape.
The 2014 film “Selma,” directed by Ava DuVernay, is critically acclaimed for its portrayal of events that led up to Bloody Sunday and the aftermath of President Lyndon B. Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act in 1965.
Said the 36th Commander in Chief at the time, “In our system, the first and most vital of all our rights is the right to vote. It is from the exercise of this right that all our other rights flow. It is not just Negroes, but really it is all of us, who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice.”
Last Saturday, the Roanoke Chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) hosted a remembrance event at the Dumas Center. The primary objective of the gathering was to memorialize the documented victims of racial violence and educate people on what can be done today to make a difference.
Speaking to the importance of continuing the work that yesteryear’s leaders started, Veteran Brenda Hale said, “Before I went into the service, the march across the Pettus Bridge woke up the consciousness of citizens across this nation because of one thing – television. They saw in real time what was happening. It is so important that we register as many people as we can to vote.”
After President Bishop Edward Mitchell gave an introduction, the Rev. Sean Burch said an opening prayer. Before Donna Davis spoke on being one of the first Black students to integrate Roanoke City’s Huffman Elementary, Amazetta Anderson delivered a moving solo performance.
“All of us, collectively, are called to do this work. We honor Bloody Sunday, not just as a memory, but with movement. As we reflect, let us recommit ourselves to being a modern-day drum major for justice,” Davis said. “Let us cross the bridge before us with courage, faith and unwavering commitment to equity and democracy.”
Added Mitchell, “We never want to forget where we came from. If we forget where we came from, we forget where we’re going.”
The event concluded with attendees holding hands and singing “We Shall Overcome.”
