March 7 is the 50th anniversary of the Selma "Bloody Sunday" march

SELMA, Ala. – On Saturday, March 7, the president and the first lady will travel to Selma to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery “Bloody Sunday” march. President Obama will deliver remarks at the historic Edmund Pettus Bridge.

On March 7, 1965, protesters planned to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge on their civil rights march to Montgomery. Law enforcement officers attempted to break up the protest, ultimately using force against the crowd. The televised violence was dubbed “Bloody Sunday” and became a rallying point for civil rights leaders.

This visit will also highlight the President and his administration’s overall efforts to mark the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

risingsun wrote:On the surface life has changed so much, but black people in the US are still fighting the same battles in Ferguson etc.

Ben_Reilly wrote:

risingsun wrote:On the surface life has changed so much, but black people in the US are still fighting the same battles in Ferguson etc.

In some senses we've gone backwards. American society is incredibly divided, to the point that the right wing is almost a separate nation.

Original Quill wrote:

Ben_Reilly wrote:

risingsun wrote:On the surface life has changed so much, but black people in the US are still fighting the same battles in Ferguson etc.

In some senses we've gone backwards. American society is incredibly divided, to the point that the right wing is almost a separate nation.

It has been insightful to watch, in my lifetime, a black president be elected, and the response in the wake.  Before, I would have had my doubts that racism was still strong in the US, but now there can be no doubt.  The nice thing is, the Republicans, who are the bulk of the racists, are mostly all old, white men, and they are close to dying.

What is funny is that contemporaries like Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson can watch a film like Selma, and come away shaking his head.  Yet, he is the same as those Alabama jackboots.  We never see it in ourselves...it's the one flaw in the human construct.

Ben_Reilly wrote:

Original Quill wrote:

It has been insightful to watch, in my lifetime, a black president be elected, and the response in the wake.  Before, I would have had my doubts that racism was still strong in the US, but now there can be no doubt.  The nice thing is, the Republicans, who are the bulk of the racists, are mostly all old, white men, and they are close to dying.

What is funny is that contemporaries like Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson can watch a film like Selma, and come away shaking his head.  Yet, he is the same as those Alabama jackboots.  We never see it in ourselves...it's the one flaw in the human construct.

I don't even know if it should really be called a black/white thing as much as the tearing down of one worldview and the enactment of what we have always claimed to be about -- you probably have encountered a good number of Republicans, like I have, who say they just stand for equality. Of course, when it was time to put that into practice, they were dismayed to see a black person succeed in something that wasn't music or sports.

I'm sure if it was Chinese people instead of people of African origin, they'd be talking about how white people are superior to the Chinese. It was always all about them.