Bloody Sunday

 

Yesterday was the ceremonial memory service of “Bloody Sunday” in Selma, Alabama. That was when peaceful protesters wanting voting rights attempted to cross what was then the Edmund Pettis Bridge in Selma on March 7, 1965. The police beat them bloody. It makes me sick to think about it. I was 10 on that day and completely ignorant of it.  President Biden was there yesterday and gave a speech in which he said history shouldn’t be sanitized. I am very happy he was there and gave the speech BUT…

Reverend William J. Barber II was also in Selma. He was at Brown Chapel, where John Lewis and other activists started their march across the bridge. Rev. Barber said that they all returned to Brown Chapel, which had to become a field hospital for those injured at the Bridge. The bridge has since been renamed John Lewis Bridge after the late congressman.

I was so impressed and emotionally moved by Rev. Barber. He began with a Bible verse from Hebrews which stated something like, we are not of these who shrink back. We persevere for our salvation. So he said to the people watching, “Shrinking back is not an option.  We must stand up and push forward.” He had the congregation repeat those lines a couple of times and then turn to the right and repeat those lines to their neighbors.

Two of his points stood out to me. The first was that the Voting Rights Act passed in 1965 was gutted in 2013. Congress could have restored rights taken away, but they haven’t done anything. There was an attempt by Democrats after red states tried to gut the law further but the Rethuglicans voted it down—including so-called “good” Rethugs like Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger.

Then Rev. Barber cited the poverty statistics in the red, southern, and midwestern states. In all of those states, governors refused the expansion of Medicaid to needy families. Barber said we’re not just talking about Black, Hispanic, and indigenous populations. White people are suffering too. It takes two full-time incomes to “maybe” afford a 2-bedroom apartment.

At presidential debates, he pointed out, no one asks the candidates “What are you doing to do about poverty?” Nothing ever gets done about it, that’s true. Instead, Rethugs convince marginalized groups to vote against themselves by selling a false story “It’s the Democrats who are keeping you in this lowly Position.”

It seems like 40% of the population is struggling. If those groups (and I would include the elderly and the disabled) would come together as a voting bloc, Rev. Barber is sure there would be enough votes to choose the President and the legislators in Congress. What a concept!

But how?

That’s why Rev. Barber was having the people repeat that they have to stand up and push back. Retreat is not an option. Being tired is not an option.

I signed up for his group, Repairers of the Breach. I want to stand up and push back too.