More than 50 years ago, civil rights leaders and demonstrators marched across the Alabama River in Selma for voting rights. After the marchers crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge, they were hit with billy clubs and choked on tear gas.
March 7, 1965 was forever known as Bloody Sunday. During the 20th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Business Reception, community members honored the brave demonstrators with a reenactment featuring community members. Each year, the Multi-Cultural Business Committee of the Clinton-Sampson Chamber of Commerce host the event to honor King’s contributions. This year, a focused was placed on events that persuaded congress to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Dr. Ted Thomas, narrator and event co-chair, expressed how it was a dark part of history that shouldn’t be forgotten.
“Sometimes, we can’t just sweep history under the carpet,” Thomas said about the event that started at Brown Chapel AME Church and was led by civil rights leaders John Lewis and the Rev. Hosea Williams.
Before participants from Sampson County marched with picket signs, Thomas began the skit by talking about the life of Jimmie Lee Jackson, a veteran shot by an Alabama State Trooper while trying to protect his mother during a voting rights march. Jackson’s death helped to inspire the march from Selma to Montgomery, which led to Bloody Sunday. When it was all over, more than 50 were hurt, Lewis received a fracture after the violent incident.
“But the protesters didn’t resist, they turned around and went back to Brown Chapel AME Church,” Thomas said about the event being shown by the media. “By the grace of God, no one got hurt.”
President Lyndon Johnson received a call from King, who made his way back to Alabama for the second march known as “Turnaround Tuesday. On March 9, 1965, they marched again and asked clergy and Americans from across the country to join the movement. Once again, law enforcement was there, but King because of his nonviolence beliefs turned around and went back to prove a point.
“But during this time when he went back, the nation was in a uproar,” Thomas said. “As you remember in 1964, the Civil Rights Act was passed, and people were wondering why this was still happening in Alabama. But not only Alabama, but other parts of the country also. The right to vote was not being given.”
Later, Judge Frank Johnson, of the United States District, made a ruling giving rights for the protesters to march from Selma to Montgomery on March 21. Johnson sent the National Guard for the third march with 6,000 people and finished with more than 20,000.
“As they started walking across, law enforcement parted,” Thomas said. “They marched all the way to Montgomery, it was 54 miles and 12 miles a day. They slept in fields and slept wherever they could, but they marched. They kept on going, but they didn’t stop because they knew the importance of being able to vote. They didn’t let nobody turn them around.
Thomas expressed how they marched for people to have the right to vote at the moment, 2020 and the future.
“Freedom is a constant struggle,” he said. “We do what we have to do, but sometimes we take voting for granted. Sometimes we don’t realize the lives that were lost. We don’t realize the things that occurred.”
In 1965, President Johnson signed the legislation giving everyone the right to vote. With all the participants on stage, everyone in the audience held hands and sung “Reach Out and Touch Somebody’s Hand” as a form of unity.
During the day, community members were encouraged to provide service to the community. Some of the presenters pushing that message were Willa Roseboro, administrative assistant for the Clinton-Sampson Chamber of Commerce; La’Chandra Parker, President of the Clinton Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc; and Patty Cherry, co-chair of the Multi-Cultural Business Committee.
For their service to Sampson County, Mary Brown a former member of the Sampson County Schools Board of Education and Garland Board of Commissioners; and Sherill Allen, president of IMPACT Sampson, a long-term disaster recovery program were honored with the Martin Luther King Jr. Image award. Clinton Mayor Lew Starling made remarks about low voting turnout and “losing muscle” by not casting ballots before the skit.
“Is it some kind of flu that’s hitting us these days, for not going to vote,” Starling said. “Why isn’t everyone going to vote. Other people, other than us got killed for this right. “If you don’t use it, you’re going to lose it. Find a candidate that you like, find a candidate that you agree, but for heaven’s sake, go and vote.”
He also encouraged the audience to serve on state and local boards, which make important decisions. One of the examples was the cemetery board, which discovered unmarked graves of slaves. A monument was later erected and received statewide recognition.
“How bad is that? Shame on us,” Starling said. ‘Thank the Lord for this group of good citizens who are on this committee who found it, came up with a plan and came before the city council.”
Starling also spoke about Sampson Partners, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping needy people. The Christian-based organization recently celebrated a grand opening for a new facility in Clinton.
“That is a perfect example of everyone coming together with all of the muscle that they have to do this wonderful thing,” Starling said.
