By Christopher Young,
Contributing Writer,
Where to even begin? So many in our country want to erase the truth. They are employing a sinful revisionist history. How in God’s world can they look in the mirror? The sacrifice of the foot soldiers on March 7, 1965, cannot and will never be erased, revised, or forgotten. Thank God for television. The whole world saw the vicious and bloody assaults at the hands of white Alabama State Troopers and others, upon innocent non-violent African-American marchers seeking the equality inherent in the right to vote. It is American history that the march from Selma to Montgomery (March 7-25, 1965) galvanized American’s support for the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The Edmund Pettus Bridge – a bridge named after a Confederate Brigadier General, Grand Dragon of the Alabama Ku Klux Klan, and U.S. Senator – will forever be remembered.
Sixty years later, on Sunday, March 9, 2025, under overcast skies with just an occasional drop or two of rain, an estimated 15,000 people gathered to remember that historic day and those foot soldiers – their unyielding determination and courage playing out in a racist America – remembering the price that is never ever marked as ‘paid-in-full’ in our country.
On Sunday, there was no massive security operation, no metal detectors to pass through, no snipers on rooftops adjacent to the foot of the bridge where long speeches are normally provided during Democratic administrations. When there is no president or vice president in attendance, all those things go by the wayside where the bridge crosses the mighty Alabama River in the town of Selma, Alabama. A town with a population of 17,971 per the 2020 Census, where 81.2% of population are African American, and 28.3% live in poverty.
The mood on the bridge this year expressed the full-range of emotions of We the People – from tears of joy to tears of anguish that the fight is never finished. Scores of faces were lined with seriousness, reverence, determination and awe – akin to a pilgrimage. By guesstimate, a solid 20% of marchers were age 21 and below.
This year there were some speeches on the other side of the bridge. Reverend Jesse Jackson was pushed in a wheelchair. Reverend Al Sharpton is always there. Others included NAACP President Derrick Johnson, National Urban League President Marc Morial, President of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation Dr. Melanie L. Campbell, Selma Mayor James Perkins, Jr., Alabama Representative Terri Sewell (Selma native), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Representative Maxine Waters, Rev. Senator Raphael G. Warnock, Alabama 2nd District Rep.
Shomari Figures, D-Mobile, reminded that “in two years we can make liars out of all those people who say we don’t vote,” Dr. Benjamin J. Chavis, Jr. – president & CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, i.e. The Black Press, Bobby Henry – chairman of the Board of The Black Press, Reverend Mark Thompson – NNPA’s Global Digital Transformation director, and Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, a Democrat, who spoke in favor of DEI, “…sixty years ago marchers were met by an Alabama governor full of hate and ignorance…I believe that diversity is a strength and never a weakness. I know we’ve got a lot more marching to go. If you’ll have me, I’ll be there every step of the way…”
“No Justice – No Peace” call and response was heard often, and a group of young people – Black Men & Women Live, from Atlanta, Georgia, chanted, “I am a link in this chain, and it will not break here.” Singing was heard throughout Broad Street leading up to the bridge, and included, We Shall Overcome and Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around.
The Mississippi Link newspaper was privileged to meet with Reverend Dave Fulford (pictured above), a foot soldier still in the 7th grade and at the back of line with the other children on March 7, 1965, in one of his offices a couple miles from the bridge, just 90 minutes before he was due at the foot of the bridge to be part of the first wave to cross this year. He stressed the importance of education and hard work. He rose through the ranks at IBM to supervise projects in numerous countries. After retiring, he moved back to Alabama and started a non-profit – Blackbelt & Central Alabama Housing Authority that helps low-income families, seniors and veterans with housing issues, repairs, food, and health information. He continues service as executive director.
Additionally, he serves as pastor of Camden Mission Seven Day Adventist Church in Camden, Alabama.
Reverend Fulford shared some of his family and educational background and values. “We were taught as children to respect our country and stand up for what is right, liberty, and that all men are created equal. The other foot soldiers gave me a reason to live. We have lost our way as a country. Even here in Selma…black on black crime…we sacrificed so much and were living in deplorable housing…the leadership is appalling when you see what could be done and is not being done.”
What will you say to the readers of The Mississippi Link newspaper about these times we are in now after you have given everything in you to push forward and now, we are being pushed backward? “When I see what’s going on, I’m praying ‘Lord please help America to get back on track.’ One thing, in our nation, I believe in the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and everything that we stood for as a country is now being changed.
“The removal of DEI is awful…IBM saw the value of it…when I see what’s going on in America today, I just ask God to please help America to go back to when all men were created equal. Many people are losing their jobs, and grants. I write a lot of grants. That’s what I do for housing, and I don’t know what’s going to happen, so I just say Lord please help America, and the last thing I’ll say – one of our most powerful weapons that we have as Americans is vote vote vote. One person, one vote, is a powerful weapon.”
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