President Barack Obama is speaking in Selma, Alabama, on the 50th anniversary of the violent civil rights march there that shocked the country and ramped up calls for equal rights for black voters.
Obama's highly anticipated speech will take place at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where on March 7, 1965, police beat and tear-gassed protesters who were marching to Alabama's capital of Montgomery to demand an end to discriminatory voting practices.
Horrifying images of the protesters being trampled heightened pressure to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965, a victory for millions of black voters across the South.
The 50-mile march that came to be known as "Bloody Sunday" was a pivotal point in black history, and remarks from the nation's first black president come at a time when racial discrimination in the U.S. still makes regular headlines.
On Friday night, speaking about a Justice Department investigation that found patterns of racism from police in Ferguson, Missouri, where an unarmed black teen was killed by a white officer over the summer, Obama urged Americans to work for change in their communities if they see evidence of discrimination — just as marchers did 50 years ago.
"Selma is not just about commemorating the past, it's about honoring the legends who helped change this country through your actions today, in the here and now," Obama told a town hall at the historically black Benedict College in South Carolina. "Selma is now."
IN-DEPTH
- Tale of Two Entrances at Selma's Tabernacle Church
- Youngest Marcher on Pettus Bridge Reflects, 50 Years Later
SOCIAL
— Elizabeth Chuck
First published March 7 2015, 11:09 AM
Source: Top Stories - Google News - http://ift.tt/18qPji0
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