March 25 -- March from Selma to Montgomery completed

I know this one will feel like a bit of a cop-out, but the fact remains that we all know I like to stick to things to completion.
[Phlip note – hence how I missed a day and went back the next and filled the gap instead of going on as if...]

Well, y’all surely remember my March 7th post about Bloody Sunday, where the first attempt to march from Selma to Montgomery was quashed by police, fire hoses, German Shepherds, billy clubs, Uncle Ruckus, seething racial hatred, Sarah Palin and a passive-aggressive President…
[Phlip note – most of that observed, the rest understood]

Well on today’s date, ironically the same number of days later then as it has been between the posts now, the 8,000ish people had initially assembled and completed what had been 4-day trek. The beauty of this is that not all were black and that not all were Christian either, the power of what was right stepped across lines out of sheer necessity.
As the group approached Montgomery county, more marchers joined. The last night prior to making the capitol, a rally was held, with singers Harry Belafonte, Sammy Davis Jr, Nina Simone and others was set up, and I SURELY would have wanted to be there if I were not negative 14 at the time.
The actual day of completion saw us given one of Dr. King’s heralded speeches delivered, and the unfortunate ugliness of a white protester – one of the ones who ferried in from FAR away to join in – was murdered by the KKK.

On the whole, the gathering without violence or incident on the part of the protesters made the message palatable and hence effective. In such, we saw the shift in the paradigm for support of Civil Rights and, in such, I was allowed to vote when I turned eighteen, 33 years later.
The images of police acting out of pure malice and without provocation was more than damning to the cause of what they attempted to uphold, but those martyred – with or without having to die – did not suffer or pass in vain, and for that we should all be eternally grateful.


(look ma, no cusswords!)

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