Originally Reported: https://www.tuscaloosanews.com/
Edgar Moore, 74, pointed to where Alabama State Troopers met him and other Bloody Sunday marchers 60 years ago.
Many of the troopers were on horseback. Others had police dogs. Moore said he remembers being sprayed with tear gas and not being able to breathe. He ran back across the bridge, and two men on horses followed him. Moore knocked on a woman’s door and begged her to let him into her house. He sought shelter there until the men were gone.
The actions of Moore and the other marchers on Bloody Sunday helped lead to passage of the Voting Rights Act and enact real change in the nation.
This year marked the 60th year since Bloody Sunday, and thousands still make the pilgrimage to Selma each year to honor their sacrifices. As marchers crossed the bridge at about noon, rain began to fall while they sang “We Shall Overcome.”
‘An ongoing fight’
Christina Forrest said she tries to come to Selma for the Jubilee yearly. She traveled from Florida this year. “Everything I know about voting rights Selma taught me,” Forrest said.
She said the experience reminds her that there is always more she can do. Forrest recognizes the struggle Selma represents today, and she said Florida has the same struggle.
This year, Forrest brought her friend Vielkis McLeod. It was McLeod’s first time at the Jubilee, and she said the experience was healing. “My heart is full,” McLeod said.
Speakers after the bridge crossing urged today’s marchers to maintain the same courage as the marchers from 60 years ago.
“We are in an ongoing fight,” said Derrick Johnson, the president and CEO of the NAACP. He told the audience members they must stay fired up during President Donald Trump’s term.
‘Democracy cannot die on our watch’
DeMark Liggins, the president and CEO of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, said the nation is seeing a resurgence of Jim Crow.
“Are you going to be on the front line when it comes to saving this democracy?” Liggins said.
People need to be prepared to vote in elections this year, said Barbara Arnwine, the president and founder of the Transformative Justice Coalition.
“Democracy cannot die on our watch,” said Janai Nelson the president and director-counsel of the Legal Defense Fund.
She noted that the Legal Defense Fund has been dedicated to Selma since Bloody Sunday. The organization worked with marchers to get the federal court order that eventually allowed the march from Selma to Montgomery to take place after Bloody Sunday.
Voting is the way to make change, said Chris Rey, the president of Phi Beta Sigma Inc. “We are not going back,” Rey said.