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Brown Chapel A.M.E Church reopened Sunday after a five-year closure due to renovations.
But for many speakers commemorating the 61st anniversary of Bloody Sunday, many of the issues of civil rights and voting access remained as timely — and dire — as they were in 2020, and even 1965.
“The problem isn’t Trump, the problem is us,” Rev. Al Sharpton said in a speech in the church on Sunday. “If we could beat Bull Connor, if we can beat George Wallace, if we can beat Lester Maddox, then why are we acting like we don’t have the blood of the soldiers and the warriors?”
The ceremony was one of several events of the Bridge Crossing Jubilee, remembering the attack on civil rights protestors led by John Lewis and Hosea Williams on March 7, 1965 shortly after crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. Bloody Sunday sparked national outrage and led to the Selma-to-Montgomery march and, later, the Voting Rights Act, reversing decades of Jim Crow disenfranchisement in the South.
Both speakers and attendees criticized efforts to make voting more difficult, with many highlighting the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act which would require voters register to vote or update their voter status in person by providing proof of their citizenship status with documents such as a birth certificate or a passport. Government issued identification cards such as REAL IDs don’t qualify as identification under the bill.
Janai Nelson, the president and director-counsel of the Legal Defense Fund, also raised the case of Callais v. Louisiana, a case before the U.S. Supreme Court that could limit the consideration of race in the creation of voting districts, which could limit the ability of Black voters to choose their preferred candidates in elections.
“There has not been a moment in this democracy where we have not had to fight for our right to vote, where we have not faced hurdles in casting a vote,” Nelson said during the church service. “We are still fighting to make our voices heard, and they are trying to pass laws and undermine our power and we are still awaiting a Supreme Court decision that could do damage to the Voting Rights Act, if not obliterate it completely.”
Alanah Odoms, executive director of the ACLU of Louisiana, said actions taken by the Trump administration, including SAVE Act, concern her.
“Congress passed the Voting Rights Act to ensure that we could vote safely and that we could have equal access to participate and now the supreme court will likely dismantle that,” she said. “That would be a great blow to our participation.”
Outside of the church in Downtown Selma, tens of thousands of people gathered in Selma on Sunday to march across Edmund Pettus Bridge in honor of the 61st anniversary of Bloody Sunday. Several Democratic politicians attended, including U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham; former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones, seeking the Alabama Democratic Party’s nomination for governor; Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed; Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg.
“I think to come back just reinstills the spirit of what we have to do to work for voting rights and continue the work for civil rights,” Reed said.
Rep. Phillip Ensler, D-Montgomery, a candidate for Alabama lieutenant governor, said he came to the bridge to honor the original foot soldiers.
“The foot soldiers, they marched and they fought but we have to continue to work to make Alabama a better place for everyone,” he said.
Other people also said they drew inspiration from those who marched in 1965.
“This is my second time across the bridge,” Cindy Acker, a playwright, said. “And just like last year, I step into the feet of people who did not say ‘I’m too tired’ and did not say ‘I can’t do it’ but who walked against the odds and because of that my life is completely different than it would have been.”
Amy Cook, another participant in the celebration, said community is important when advocating for rights.
“We’re losing things every day and what makes a difference is communities coming together, people coming together to support rights for everyone” she said.
Ann Breedlove, another marcher, echoed Cook’s sentiments.
“We must not allow that our civil rights to be taken from us,” Breedlove said. “We’re going to stand together and treat each other with love and teach our children how to stand when we’re gone.”
Tina Byrd, a representative from the House of Mtenzi Museum, a civil rights museum in Memphis, said being at the Edmund Pettus Bridge feels surreal.
“As a little Black girl, we watched it on TV as we grew up, but we never thought that we could actually be here and be a part of history. I’m overjoyed and I’m just excited to be here,” she said.
This year marks the first year civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson wasn’t present. Jackson died last month. Jackson’s son Yusef was at the event.
Odoms said being at the bridge without key leaders makes her want to continue that legacy.
“We have to carry the work forward. We have to not just cross this bridge, but we have to continue to cross the milestones they’ve set for us,” Odoms said.
by Andrea Tinker, Alabama Reflector
Alabama Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Alabama Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Brian Lyman for questions: [email protected].
