Selma

Journey For Justice March From Selma To DC

August 5, 2015 Alvin Benn, www.montgomeryadvertiser.com Resist! D.C., Montgomery, Selma, Washington, Washington D.C.

By Alvin Benn in The Montgomery Advertiser - Protest marches have been part of Selma’s civil rights fabric since 1965, but an 860-mile trek to Washington had a minister leaning on the Bible for heavenly support Saturday. The Rev. Theresa Dear noted the magnitude of what lies ahead, but never doubted that the “40-day-and-40-night” march will be successful. “We are doing something of biblical proportions,” said Dear, just before a program ended in the shadow of the Edmund Pettus Bridge so that march could begin. Sponsored by the NAACP, “America’s Journey for Justice” is scheduled to extend through eastern seaboard states before ending in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 15. Saturday’s event in Selma drew political and religious leaders from around the country and, while the turnout didn’t come close to some predictions, organizers were still optimistic.

The Dark Side Of Selma The Mainstream Media Ignored

March 12, 2015 Alice Ollstein, www.thinkprogress.org Educate! Civil Rights, History, Media, Selma

When nearly 100,000 people descended on Selma last week to mark the 50th anniversary of the attack on voting rights protesters known as Bloody Sunday, they encountered a city that looked nothing like the quaint but divided communitydepicted in the recent Hollywood film. On the outskirts of town, clusters of mobile homes and crumbling shotgun houses sit along unpaved roads. The majority of downtown businesses near the iconic Edmund Pettus Bridge — save for several fast food chains and payday lenders — stand vacant, their windows boarded up or broken. Most of the city’s public housing projects, built in the early 1950s, are in serious need of repair. With more than 36 percent of residents and 60 percent of children living in poverty, Dallas County is the poorest in the state of Alabama, making it one of the poorest in the country.

We Must Honor The Legacy Of Selma Foot Soldiers

March 7, 2015 Deborah J. Vagins, www.huffingtonpost.com Resist! Civil Rights, Congress, Law, Selma

In an important moment of bipartisanship, Congress unanimously passed a bill this month that honors the thousands of people who marched for voting rights 50 years ago in Selma, Alabama, with the Congressional Gold Medal, Congress' highest civilian honor. This legislation was co-sponsored by 149 Republicans and 227 Democrats. On March 7, 1965 at the foot of the Edmund Pettis Bridge, they suffered beatings and the fear of death to peacefully protest for a national voting rights law. Ultimately, they prevailed and that law -- the Voting Rights Act of 1965 -- changed the face of America and combated ongoing discrimination to the present day. Unfortunately, in 2013, the Supreme Court crippled one of the most effective protections of that act in its Shelby County v. Holder decision by rendering ineffective the requirement that certain jurisdictions with a history of voting discrimination get pre-approval for voting changes.

From Selma To Citizens United: Struggle For One Person, One Vote

January 18, 2015 Chris Kromm, www.southernstudies.org Educate! Citizens United, Democracy, Martin Luther King Jr, MLK, Selma, Voting Rights

The 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches -- and the brutal backlash to them from Alabama state troopers -- galvanized national support for the Voting Rights Act, changing the balance of power in the South. Building on years of local organizing, "roughly a million new voters were registered within a few years after the [Voting Rights Act] became law," says historian Alexander Keyssar in his seminal book "The Right to Vote," "with African-American registration soaring to a record 62 percent." While Selma and the Voting Rights Act strengthened the voice of ordinary voters, Citizens United has heightened the power of mega-rich donors. By opening the treasuries of companies, unions and other groups to limitless political spending, the decision has fueled a spending spree on elections, especially by outside groups not tied to a candidate. According to a new report by the Brennan Center, outside spending in U.S. Senate races has doubled since 2010, to more than $486 million in 2014.

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