Sunday, March 7, 1965. This date, to some, is one of the most important in American history. To me, this date is what my Writing 111 professor would have called a “point of gravity” in history. On this day in Selma, Alabama—on Edmund Pettis Bridge—hundreds of individuals gathered to protest for their rights. Hundreds of individuals gathered against the will of a government, and fellow citizens, who would have had them all silenced for speaking out about the injustices affecting millions.
These individuals, with the eyes of the world on them, began to cross Edmund Pettis Bridge and were summarily besieged by teargas and police officers armed with Billy clubs, barbwire wrapped rubber tubing, whips, and general hatred. This event, though not particularly unusual during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, had an incredibly significant impact on the general public of the United States. People were horrified by what many of them had been ignoring for decades—the brutality people had been facing or living in fear of for as long as they could remember.
Ultimately, because of the publicity given to what has come to be known as“Bloody Sunday,” because the event was televised on A.B.C starting at 9:30 p.m., the United States was forced to make a moral decision—support those who were beaten savagely while they protested peacefully for their rights, or remain complacent in the face of injustices similar to those perpetrated by Nazis in Germany.
The choice, for some, was clear. For others, it was less so. Regardless of the outcome of those mental battles, the United States took a turn for the better, eventually passing the Voting Rights Act of 1965 just five months after “Bloody Sunday.” Since then, countless other strides have been made in the name of equality.
On that note, I think it is necessary to stop and address the thoughts swirling through my head right now. If you are anything like me, you do not believe that there was any singular point which caused the United States to move towards a better future for minorities.
If you are anything like me, you believe that, regardless of the strides made in the United States, there are still a lot of untenable practices and policies in place. If you are like me, you believe that regardless of the laws on the books, the presence of disgustingly large monetary inequities, social inequities, and educational inequities, effectively garrotes many of the strides we have made.
If you are like me, you, regardless of the previous statement, recognize the privilege that is your position as a student of color at an institution which would not accept you on its campus until 1962. If you are like me, you see all of this and you feel sad that people do not see how the events of “Bloody Sunday” are just as important today as they were in 1965.
If you are like me, you cringe when you hear people declare America a post-racial society or when you hear people say the problems we face would just go away if we would “stop fixating on the past.” If you are like me, you think and feel a lot of things when you remember events such as “Bloody Sunday.” But ultimately, this article isn’t about what it means to be me in certain situations. No, this article was ultimately written to ask you all a question.
Do we need to have this happen again? Do we need something so startling and disturbing to take place where everyone can see it to get people to act in support of the communities being targeted by contemporary injustices? Do we need successful, beautiful people who—but for a piece of paper—are citizens of the United States to be beaten in the streets on international television until seriously injured or dead?
Do we need someone to stand in the middle of a crowded nightclub, declare that some minority is inferior to them and proceed to go on a killing rampage as they target those individuals until they themselves are killed? Do we need communities bordering the United States to walk through town and trip over the dead body of an individual who was pushed towards the deadliest areas in a desert as they attempted to leave their un-livable or opportunity-starved countries for a better future?
Do we need the sun to flare and kill half the population of the planet because there wasn’t enough ozone left to protect us from such an event? Do we need these things to happen before we decide to make a moral stand and change our habits from what they are to something different—something that might prevent all of these things from happening?
If your answer to this question is no, then I am sorry to tell you that almost all those things have already happened. If your answer is yes, then I’m still sorry to tell you that almost all those things have happened—and nothing has changed. There are people being executed on the street while they try everything they could to comply with the demands of a police officer.
There are people being put into stables because they were so poor, or so desperate to live a good life that they took any opportunity they had to escape their circumstances for better ones. And yet, instead of talking about that, we demonize these individuals or continue to ignore the struggles that they face.
Ultimately, I don’t know what it will take to get people to stop participating in destructive and passive behaviors. However, the way things are going, only something earth shattering will put us on a different course.
