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50 Years:  The Dream Marches On Selma to Montgomery ….

3/10/2015

5 Comments

 
….was the route chosen by young marchers on March 7th, 1965, across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, to bring attention to their demand for the right to vote – the essence of American democracy.
This past weekend I was privileged to revisit the Edmund Pettus Bridge, as part of the 15th Annual Faith & Politics Congressional Civil Rights Pilgrimage led by Congressman John Lewis.  I, along with almost 100 congresspersons and another 250 guests, listened to civil rights luminaries share their stories with us; as well as the stirring words of President Obama on Saturday afternoon.  And, in spite of the many issues that we still face -- of existing racism, mass incarceration, inequality, diminishment of voting rights, amongst others -- these civil rights veterans celebrated what they had won 50 years ago by their sheer determination and commitment.
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They were clear that we have come a long ways, and have won many battles on the road to freedom.  We all celebrated but – as we expressed our admiration for their courage and hard work – each and every speaker urged us to continue their work.
Their stories were powerful and evocative:
Congressman John Lewis inspired us with his faith and his love for others.  He was clear that “we must recommit ourselves, there is work to be done.  The time for justice has come, and we all can do something.  Don’t get lost in despair, stand up for what you believe.”
Mary Liuzzo Lilleboe, spoke about her mother.  Viola Liuzzo, the white wife of a teamster, left her 3 young children in Detroit, after hearing the call of Martin Luther King asking Americans to come to Selma and support those seeking the right to vote.  She was part of the successful march to Montgomery, that was protected by US soldiers; but, afterwards was shot and killed in her car while driving black marchers back home.  “My mother felt the wrong, and knew in her heart what was right.”
Mrs. Juanita Abernathy, wife of the Rev. Ralph Abernathy, who organized the Montgomery Bus Boycotts, spoke of the difficulties they endured.   “For 381 days, in the cold and sleet the people of this city walked, refusing to take segregated buses, in order to get the bill passed in Congress so that there would be no discrimination in public transportation.
We’ve come a long way – 50 years ago what is happening today was unbelievable. That my congressman would be a black man, that our president would be a black man, that we would be standing in front of the Alabama capital, being welcomed by the governor.”
We can celebrate the achievement of the past 50 years -- that black people can now vote, that we have black elected representatives, and so much more – and, there is much to do.  As Juanita Abernathy said, “We are not free cause we have police brutality.  We are integrated, but it is not what it should be.”
What brought tears to many eyes were the words of Peggy Wallace Kennedy, daughter of Alabama Governor George Wallace.    She told the story of taking her young son to a civil rights museum, and her son asking her “Why did Paw Paw do such mean things to those people?”  She knelt down and said to him, “I don’t know why Paw Paw did what he did; but I do know that it is up to you and I to make things right.”
The message that we received throughout this amazing, celebratory weekend is summed up in the words of Amelia Boynton, age 103, who helped organize the original March, “Get off my shoulders, there is much work to do!”

5 Comments
Anne Boynton
3/17/2015 09:00:38 am

Lynne, thank you for your inspiring article about your experience in Selma last weekend. Your activism is a model for me and I aspire to learn from you about how I can become involved in my own community and the wonderful work going on with elders worldwide.

Reply
Lynne Iser
3/18/2015 08:04:38 am

Anne, that is such a lovely comment! My hope is that we can all continue to learn from each other, as we create an elder web of experience, wisdom & caring for others.

Reply
Theresa Scherf
3/19/2015 12:23:57 pm

Thank you, Lynne, for sharing this and for being there. Born in south Alabama, I was living in Montgomery during the forever memorable events that took place there during the period between the Freedom Riders bus trip through the deep South in the fall of 1961 and the Selma March in the spring of 1965. A journalist friend and colleague (I was a city desk reporter and religion editor for the Montgomery morning newspaper while finishing high school) was covering the former event for Associated Press, and while at the Greyhound Bus Station calling in his story, an angry mob tried to overturn the telephone booth, and he literally feared for his life. I had driven by the bus station an hour earlier and can never forget seeing cars lining both sides of the street for several blocks as people from outlying areas gathered to attack the bus or the look on their faces,so contorted with rage and hatred that they appeared truly inhuman. (Just the year before, while traveling from south Alabama back to Montgomery, I'd seen a Ku Klux Klan gathering and cross-burning in a field within view of the highway.)
While attending college in Montgomery, I drove up the east coast in 1963 to participate in the March on Washington and will never forget what it was like being on the Mall that day and that evening in the Church of the Savior's coffee house hearing the deeply moving personal stories told by marchers who had come from many different places to stand united against the racism (and its history) so endemic in this country. Two years later I was among the many who gathered in front of the Alabama state capitol building to join the Selma marchers as they walked up Dexter Avenue past the church Martin Luther King had once pastored to their destination.
These experiences did not occur in isolation. They were nurtured by and interwoven with the faith community in which I had grown up. A few years before, when our bishop died suddenly, the bishop of another Methodist Conference was assigned to cover the vacancy until a replacement could be chosen. It was during his brief tenure that King and other civil rights demonstrators were savagely attacked and jailed in Birmingham, in response to which he sent an open letter to King excoriating him. Our clergy responded with an open letter repudiating the bishop's! And during my Montgomery years, when civil rights activists were seeking to integrate various 'white churches,' our clergy remained united against any attempts to turn them away.
When I returned to Montgomery from seminary in 1966 for my ordination, a number of the Conference ministers who had supported the Civil Rights Movement in so many different ways came forward to join the (new) bishop in the laying on of hands as I became the first woman to be ordained in that Conference. And a great many years later, at my mother's funeral service in northwest Florida, the minister we asked to officiate told a story about her none of us had ever heard before. He said that when he was just starting out in ministry and had been appointed pastor to a smaller Methodist church in my home town, my mother (who was living there again at the time) had come to him to offer her help as an organist. Like the larger community, this church was struggling with the issue of school integration, and some in the church, angry at his stance, had left or were trying to make things so difficult for him that he would leave. He said that in the darkest moments of that time, it had been her encouragement and support that had enabled him to stand firm and get through that very difficult struggle in a way that ultimately brought about healing.
I couldn't be in Selma to observe this 50th anniversary of the march with its attendant memories, but I will be once again in Montgomery, it's destination, as I drive to south Alabama in a couple of weeks to be with my immediate family for the first time in almost ten years and celebrate my 70th birthday. As I make that journey, so many memories will be with me, along with so much gratitude for the many 'saints' who illumined our lives at that time and call us forward still.

Reply
Lynne Iser
3/27/2015 04:17:16 am

Dear Theresa,
What an amazing story you have shared with us all! THANK YOU!! You are also one of the "luminaries" those who have lived through the Civil Rights movement and became activists -- motivated by the injustices that you witnessed and experienced.
I would love to have the story re-written a bit and added to the Inspiring Stories page of Elder Activists, as a blog -- so that many can understand how you became inspired as a young person, and have remained to committed. You would be interested in doing that?
And, enjoy your trip and celebration of your birthday.... Happy Birthday!

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Fireplace Installation Texas link
12/27/2022 02:49:42 am

Nice post thanks for sharinng

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