"The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude". These are the words of the 15th amendment, ratified on February 3, 1870. Why, then, in 1965 did we have people in power who were allowed to blatantly and violently deny American citizens this right, something that should have been guaranteed by law?
2015 marks the 50-year anniversary of the
pivotal 1965 Selma to Montgomery Voter's Rights March, an event that culminated
the journey of 100 years by African Americans to gain one of the most
fundamental of American freedoms, the right to vote. The walk was led by Martin
Luther King, Jr., and started out with 4000 marchers on March 21st. By March 25th
when the walk ended at the Capitol steps in Montgomery, the numbers had swelled to
25,000. Having just seen the movie Selma,
and being in Montgomery
for our capitol tour, we set aside a day to make the drive between the two
cities along the actual route the marchers took.
The 50-mile drive was broken up with
milestones from the march including the four campsites the marchers stayed along
the way and the Lowndes
County interpretive
center which depicted the events leading up the march, the march itself, and
the aftermath. It was difficult walking through this museum, reading about the
violence and oppression, seeing images from Bloody Sunday, and hearing the
voices of the brave citizens who put their lives on the line to fight for what
should have already been rightfully theirs. There were far too many victims of
unprovoked violence, far too many innocent lives lost.
In Selma,
a small town of just 20,000, we found remnants of the just concluded 50-year
Jubilee celebrating these historic events. We parked the truck and took a walking
tour of the town, following the path that traced the series of events leading
up to the march. We walked across the Edmund Pettus
Bridge, trying to imagine
what it would have been like to be part of the original group taking those
first steps forward.
I was only 9-years old when all this was
happening. My understanding of this era is seen through an abstracted rear view
mirror, my lessons coming from books, school, and even movies and television. Now,
finally having a chance to get a more hands on discovery through actual
visitations to Selma and Montgomery, my awareness of the turbulent and dangerous
events of the Civil Rights Movement has deepened. Although most of us take our
voting rights for granted, not so long ago people were prepared to die to
ensure this civil liberty. I want to
believe we've come a long way in 50 years, and in many ways we have. I like to
think the quote "Rosa sat so Martin could
walk, Martin walked so Obama could run, Obama ran so our children could fly"
represents a continuum of progress we still need to see continue in today's
world.
