In the past 26 years, veterans of the Voting Rights Movement and civil rights leaders have commemorated Bloody Sunday and the Voting Rights Struggle in Selma, Ala. It has grown to be the largest annual celebration of a civil rights event in America with over 25,000 people attending every year. Two hundred thousand people flooded Selma in 2015 for the 50th anniversary, which included President Barack Obama and his family. The election of President Barack Obama, however, revitalized attacks on our hard-earned right to vote.
The Preclearance Provision of Seat 5, the heart of the Voting Rights Act, was gutted. Voter suppression intensified. With Justice Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court, an extremist Republican majority on the Court signals an intense and elevated attacks on voting and civil rights.
Few venues draw people across the spectrum of social issues together on an annual basis, such as the Bridge Crossing Jubilee. The Bridge Crossing Jubilee is not just a commemoration, but also a contributor of the struggle for the right to vote.
Next year will mark the 400th anniversary of the beginning of slavery in the United States of America. How far have we come as a people and a nation in 400 years? Making America great again for who? Roy Moore revealed President Donald Trump’s mission when he said America was great when Black people were enslaved.
Is this where we are going? What can be done to halt their dangerous path back to the past. Join us next year in Selma on March 2-3 to revive our struggles to safeguard the vote and
a democracy under attack. Hear the stories from living legends and youth struggles to challenge injustices and move forward when thousands march on March 3, 2019 from historical Brown Chapel Church at 1 p.m. that day. It will not just be a march of commemoration, but a march to demonstrate our unity and resolve to make it clear: “We are going forward with full speed ahead We ain’t going back.”
Faya Ora Rose Toure is the founder and co-chair of the Bridge Crossing Jubilee.
