To Sleep or To Parish
In March of 1965 African American civil rights activists such as Hosea Williams, Martin Luther King Jr., and Congressman John Lewis all marched across the Edmond Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama to protest the right to vote for African Americans. On March 1st, 2019 African Americans, civil rights activists, Greek Organizations, and many more all came together to reenact the 55th Anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery March and Bloody Sunday. Students from Clark Atlanta came to Selma, AL for the first time to experience and hear the stories of many civil rights activists that were physically present on the day of the march.
CAUTV was able to speak with multiple civil rights activists that could recount their experiences with the Selma to Montgomery March. 3Former Southern Christian Leadership Conference Vice President, Reverend Eric Terrell states, “I was small and as my grandmother and I came across the Pettus Bridge they skeeted the hose. The only reason why they stopped skeeting it on us was because they saw my grandmother had me under her coat. They were shifting the water and we fell. She then said stand still son. I asked her why they are doing this to us and that's when she told me just understand by and by. I can’t explain it to you right now, it’s just they don't want us to come across, but we will come across it anyway.” He expressed that he is not ashamed or afraid, but through the years he has seen a major shift in the way African Americans protest. He believes that it is important that more African Americans bring their children up showing and teaching them how to fight for injustice. “We are sleeping in a dangerous time and racism is on the rise. If our young people remain sleep, they’re going to parish tomorrow and if they keep on sleeping the dream of Martin Luther King Jr. is going to be a nightmare”, he stated.
Many presidential candidates are looking towards African Americans and young people for their votes. Black votership is one of the most targeted demographics within politics right now, because as African Americans they are the ones that are looked at the least due to be a minority. Within recent years political leaders have been able to see the impact that African Americans can have when they come together. For example, in the Black Lives Matter movement African Americans were able to come together and stir up major controversy. When politician Mike Bloomberg got on the stage during the church service on Saturday some visitors turned their backs to him. During this March many African Americans came out to hear their voices heard by people who may be our future president of the United States, therefore those who opposed his views showed that to him before his speech.
After the church service civil rights activist like Martin Luther King lll spoke to the press about why he believes the March is still important today. He stated, “Fifty-five years later we do not have the total incompetent right to vote because of voter suppression, and because of gerrymander in some communities. Unfortunately, we have to keep marching, and we have to keep being vigilant until everyone can vote freely and fairly.” Many civil rights activists came out to this event to educate black people on why their votes matter. The event was originally held on March 1st instead of March 7th for the purpose of educating people on voting and voter suppression before people head to the ballots on Super Tuesday. It was important for people to become well-informed in how to properly make sure their vote is counted, so that they can effectively participate in changing our communities.