SELMA, Ala. (AP) – A march commemorating the historic “Bloody Sunday” demonstration was set to begin Monday afternoon after several speakers at the 50th anniversary commemoration pushed visitors to fight to restore the Voting Rights Act.
As thousands marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama on Sunday, some of the demonstrators who were attacked by law enforcement there 50 years ago said they fear the country is becoming a place where widespread minority voter suppression is once again tolerated.
The U.S Supreme Court in 2013 eliminated section 4 of the Voting Rights Act, which required states with histories of minority voter suppression to get permission from the Justice Department before changing voting laws.
“It’s a slap in the face, an insult to all who have given their lives for righteousness sake,” Willie White Harris, 70, of Selma, said after crossing the bridge once again Sunday. He was part of the 1965 march and said revisiting the bridge was bittersweet. “The struggle is just beginning really. We’ve got a long, long way to go. We’ve got to be vigilant.”
The weeklong march retracing the steps demonstrators took in 1965 was expected to begin Monday in Selma, Alabama and culminate Friday with a rally at the state Capitol.