Written by Michelle Pichon
This month marks the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights movement that took place in Selma, Alabama. I learned about the march, Martin Luther King Jr., and Rosa Parks in school, in books, and in movies, but the older I got the more I learned about the bigger picture of what happened as a result of that march. Today, I am able to see that Selma was about more than Black people. It was, it is, about American People. It was the realization of an idea that all people have worth. And today that goes beyond Black and White. Ingrained racism is still an issue today reaching past, but not excluding, physical repercussions.
As I followed the events of the commemoration, I was able to see events of the present in a different light -- like how the law-makers and courts of this country have taken the very Voting Rights Act sparked by Selma to try and make it harder for racial minorities to register and vote. Even before the 21st Century attack on immigrant families, voter ID laws and shifting voting districts were tactics used to oppress democracy in the US.
The fight for Civil Rights today includes voting rights, migrant rights, climate justice, and more. As long as schools with predominantly Black enrollment are built on toxic dumps, or people who have lived, worked, and benefited this country are not given the opportunity to make this their home, the goals of the Selma march have not been reached. There are more bridges for us to cross.
The images from Bloody Sunday, images reenacted in films like Selma showed us that justice and freedom don’t come easily for everyone. We have to fight for it. We are the powers that be. We have to use that power to elect officials who have the interests of the people first and not the interests of corporations or their wallets. We have work to do.
Selma is about an inclusive America. When the courts, Congress, elected officials try to take that away, it is our duty to demand it. It is our duty to protect it. I watched the commemoration of the march from Selma to Montgomery and I listened to the lyrics of “Glory” written by Jon Legend and Common for the movie Selma. And then I wrote a poem.
Americans crossed the bridge in Selma
segregationist repression
for the right of Black Americans to vote
because the Constitution does not specify Race.
Beaten, battered, bitten, and bloody
saw they would not be moved.
across the bridge, over the top
there as far as eyes could see
flashing lights, police cars, helmeted troopers
There is where they stopped
a revolution on their knees.
And then they turned around.
to the Alabama state capitol
there were no police provocations
Jack had the protestors’ backs
all the way to Wallace’s front door.
For politicians who play with the Voting Rights Act
not have toxic ash coating our
For justice for unarmed Black men
of the chance to make it here.
The doors that Selma opened
opened doors for all Americans.
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