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A Weekend Spent Commemorating Selma: 50 Years and Counting
By Deborah Porter
Special to The Truth
The trip to Selma for the
50th commemoration of Bloody Sunday was full of events and
emotion for me. Sharing it with my 23 year-old daughter was
absolutely priceless. Here are a few pictures and excerpts
from the journal I kept.
Thursday:
Driving down to Selma from Birmingham. I thought of how
dark it must have been at night making that drive. Thought
of the three freedom riders who were killed in Mississippi
in 1964, driving on a street that probably looked very
similar. We toured downtown Selma as Montgomery Public
School kids marched over bridge. We visited the Voters
Rights Museum and saw a Jimmy Lee Jackson play. There was a
mass meeting on Thursday night at Tabernacle Baptist Church
with Dr. Bernice A. King. "We talk about my father as a
leader and rightfully so but he was a leader among leaders.
They understood the ‘we factor,” said King
“ Today we keep having
false starts, leaving people disillusioned, disappointed,”
she continued. “We must stop diluting our strength; we must
organize. Stop starting organizations and come along side an
existing one and support it. We must find a way to connect
the generations. The Israelites came out together, old and
young.”
Friday:
Various workshops and community discussions on race
relations.
Saturday:
Heard the president and U.S. Congressman John Lewis.
Lewis would never have imagined 50 years ago that he would
be introducing the first black president on that same bridge
50 years later. The president said they marched so we could
run. We run so our children can soar.
I met a lady from outside
of Demopolis, AL. Her first time to a jubilee. Bloody Sunday
happened when she was 13. But she never marched because her
parents wouldn't let her. She remembers the separate water
fountains and getting food from the back of restaurants.
She remembers her classmate being chained to the back of a
Klan truck and dragged and surviving.
Several people passed out
today. Not very hot. About 70 degrees but we had to stand
for hours. Found out later there was no seating for the foot
soldiers, those who marched 50 years ago and some are in
their 80's. Whoever had seats should have given them up.
Also, many foot soldiers did not have rooms in Selma but in
Montgomery. Normally a 50 minute drive but because of all
the traffic it was a 4 hour drive this weekend
Saturday Night:
Freedom flame awards gala. Foot soldiers honored.
Sunday Church:
Maybe you came to see the president but God wants you to
see the savior, Jesus,” said Pastor Otis Dion Culliver of
Selma’s Tabernacle Baptist Church. "You may have come to
Selma to cross the bridge. But first you have to come to the
cross." |
