New Yorkers marched across the Brooklyn Bridge today in solidarity with a civil rights march a half century ago, on March 7, 1965 in Selma, Alabama. On that day, many in a crowd of 600 were beaten bloody by state troopers as they tried to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge on their way to Montgomery, Alabama.
A young boy on the New York City March said he was there because he had just seen the film Selma. Brooklyn Councilmember Jumaane Williams expressed the thoughts and feelings of many.
“I think about 50 years from now, when people look at the headlines of this week and the past weeks and they see no indictments in Ferguson and they see no indictments in Staten Island and they see scathing reports of the Ferguson Police force and they see people beginning to talk about what it’s like now to be black in America and I hope when they say what did they do fifty years ago meaning today, I hope they will say we stood up and we fought. So when I think of 50 Years ago, I’m so happy that people stood up and fought then. And I’m happy that some of the craziness that occurred then doesn’t occur now.”
"But there’s still craziness going on and we have to continue to talk about. As we walk through this city, and we walk through this country we still see de facto segregation in the school system, in the housing, in who is employed and not employed. It is too hard to be a black person in this country. That is a fact we have to admit if we are to move forward.”
Williams said he is proud to march with New Yorkers across the bridge “and know unlike 50 years ago, there won’t be batons, but I want to say to the people here that we need you next week We need you next month. Don’t participate in the celebrations of the past if you don’t want to participate in the fights of today.”
WBAI will have a full report on the March on the Morning News on Monday.
