On Sunday, March 9, civil rights leaders gathered at the City Hall steps to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Edmund Pettus Bridge crossing in Selma, Ala. Shortly after, the advocates led the crowd across the Brooklyn Bridge.
The march was organized by civil rights lawyer Norman Siegel and former head of the New York Urban League and diversity advocate Harriet Michel, to memorialize the 1965 march for voting rights and reaffirm their commitment to defending civil liberties today.
Michel walked across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in 1965; this past Sunday, she walked once more in solidarity with activists in Selma. She told the AmNews it was imperative to march “because of the bloodshed and tears by those marchers 60 years ago … Some of them gave their lives, some of them were injured. We want to honor and commemorate their sacrifice and the movement that they fought for.”
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For Michel, showing up now is more crucial than ever. “We are trying to encourage people to speak up, to stand up and to fight against what is going on in the country now,” she said. Her message to Americans is clear: “Don’t ever give up, but understand; no one is coming to save us, we must save ourselves, and you save yourself by direct action.”
There were three Selma marches in 1965. The first took place on March 7 and was led by John Lewis and Rev. Hosea Williams, who demanded voting rights access for African Americans. The peaceful demonstration continued with no incidents until the protestors reached the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where they were met with brutal police repression in what came to be known as Bloody Sunday.
Siegel, who attended the Ebenezer Church in Atlanta when told that Martin Luther King, Jr. was speaking, told the AmNews that paying homage to those who fought for civil rights is more important than ever. “We pay tribute to the people who taught us who we are,” he said. “Listening to Dr. King inspired me.”
Siegel emphasized the need to honor “Hosea Williams, John Lewis, James Bevel, Fannie Lou Hamer, Charles Morgan, Rosa Parks, Viola Luizzo, Whitney Young, [and] Andy Young,” among others, who he said taught him about non-violence. “They taught me about liberty, freedom, about stamina, to never give up, [and] 60 years later, I want to thank them for teaching my generation to peacefully and constitutionally fight back and resist.”
With fists raised as they marched along the Brooklyn Bridge, the advocates chanted, “We are not going back,” rejoiced in singing, and held signs. People in the crowd often stopped to observe and at times join.
Reverend Hebert Daughtry, 94, was at the forefront of the march and said for him, “walking the bridge today is a commitment to health, justice, fairness, and equal rights.” He hoped that doing this at 94 meant he was still “able to send a couple of messages.”
C. Virginia Fields, former Manhattan borough president, held Daughtry’s arm during the entirety of the march. She told the AmNews that she walked the Edmund Pettus Bridge 10 years ago for the 50th anniversary of the march that was led by “our President Barack Obama.” “We saw that it led to the change that they were trying to make in Selma,” Fields said. “Keep it alive.”