More
than 50 years ago, in a little Unitarian Church in Riverside California, most
of us listening to Martin Luther King’s Taped speeches from the Birmingham
Jail, would never have believed that in our lifetimes we would see a black man
elected as President of the United States.
Last
night I watched and listened to an exquisite
interview of former President Barack Obama by a very bearded David Letterman on
Netflix. (The first episode of the show, My Next Guest
Needs No Introduction With David Letterman. I was in awe. And it reminded me of the many non-violent marches that
went on in the 60’s. One notable one was on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma Alabama in 1965.
In a
speech at the base of the bridge President Obama said this:
Now, I have to imagine that when a younger John
Lewis woke up that morning 50 years ago and made his way to Brown Chapel,
heroics were not on his mind.
A day like this was not on his mind. Young folks
with bedrolls and backpacks were milling about.
Veterans of the movement trained newcomers in the tactics of non-violence; the
right way to protect yourself when attacked. A doctor described what tear gas
does to the body, while marchers scribbled down instructions for contacting
their loved ones.
The air was thick with doubt, anticipation and fear. And they
comforted themselves with the final verse of the final hymn they sung…
Then, his knapsack stocked with an
apple, a toothbrush, a book on government – all you need for a night behind
bars – John Lewis led them out of the church on a mission to change America.
As John noted, there are places and moments in
America where this nation's destiny has been decided.
Many are sites of war...
Selma is such a place. In one afternoon 50 years
ago, so much of our turbulent history -- the stain of slavery and anguish of
civil war; the yoke of segregation and tyranny of Jim Crow; the death of four
little girls in Birmingham; and the dream of a Baptist preacher -- all that
history met on this bridge.
Obama and Lewis
--In honor of “Bloody Sunday,”
when State Troopers attacked about 600 peaceful
marchers with Billy clubs and tear gas
when they attempted to march from Selma
to Montgomery to lobby for voter’s
rights.
John
Lewis was 25 when beaten severely about the head during the bridge
crossing, but when on to become a representative
in the Government.
Obama goes on
to say;
It was not a clash of armies,
but a clash of wills; a contest to determine the
meaning of America.
And because
of men and women like John Lewis…Dr. King, and so many more, the idea of a just
America, a fair America, an inclusive America, a generous America – that idea
ultimately triumphed.
On the third march, March 21, 1965, about 3,200 marchers set
out from Selma to Montgomery, 50 miles. They walked 12 miles a day and slept in
the fields at night. By the time they reached the capital of Montgomery on
March 25, they were 25,000 strong.
In 1965 President Lyndon B. Johnson signed voting rights into
law, banning discrimination literacy tests.
And we, the people, lived to see Martin Author King Jr’s “I
Have a Dream” speech spill out covering America.
