The nation's first black attorney general and Gov. George C. Wallace's daughter celebrated the Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march Sunday — 44 years after state troopers from her father's administration beat marchers as they started the landmark journey.
Peggy Wallace Kennedy introduced Attorney General Eric Holder at a historic Selma church filled to overflowing.
Peggy Wallace Kennedy introduced Attorney General Eric Holder at a historic Selma church filled to overflowing.
"It's reconciliation and redemption," Wallace's daughter said.
Selma's annual Bridge Crossing Jubilee, commemorating the 1965 voting rights march, brought together civil rights leaders Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and Joseph Lowery in addition to the attorney general and several members of Congress, including Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., who was beaten in the original Selma march. More than a thousand people took part in recreating the march Sunday.
Holder and Kennedy embraced at Brown Chapel AME Church, where marchers organized on March 7, 1965, to begin their 50-mile trek to Montgomery.
SOME COMMENTS :
Wallace was a Democrat, but the southern Democrat of the time was vastly different from the national party. Blacks after the Civil War became Republicans for what should be obvious reasons..
"We must commit ourselves to continuing to defend the Voting Rights Act, which is under attack," Holder said.
I am sure addressing this group in the South was done only as a reminded of the terrible injustice that was done to Blacks on a particular Sunday ( Bloody Sunday ) to keep us from vothing. This is what promoted the passage of the Voting Right Act
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