SCLC march moving forward

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, March 9, 2005

On Monday, approximately 75 people lined up at the Plantation Inn in Selma to begin a 54-mile trek to Montgomery.

Despite the long journey before them, they appeared full of excitement and energy.

Done in commemoration of the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery which helped bring about the Voting Rights Act, this five-day reenactment attracted people from all around the world.

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“I really want to learn about the history of the civil rights movement, and how many used it as a method to promote change,” said Inge Arnold, who is originally from Australia, but traveled to Selma from Japan.

“Many social movements came from the empowerment of this movement.”

Although many of them were from different countries, they had no problem understanding their purpose for marching.

“I am from Japan,” said Megumi Kobayshi. “Forty years ago, they marched this way and changed history. I decided to do this because I believe that we can connect and come together.”

Other marchers had more personal reasons for attending.

“When I was coming up as a child, I watched documentaries of Martin Luther King Jr.,” said Daryl Brooks, a resident of Trenton, N.J.

“I would have never thought that I would march. It is kind of like a passing of the torch.”

Amy Kolsky drove from Los Angeles to be a part of the reenactment.

“We need to stand up for injustice and (fight) apathy,” said Kolsky.

“I am between jobs, but when I found out about it, I was compelled to participate.”

“I just wanted to come down and hear the voices of people who experienced it,” said Erika Linnander, a Pennsylvania native.

Linnander said she felt that people should gather what they learn during the reenactment and take it back to their communities.

The marchers travel an average of 10-12 miles a day before stopping to spend the night at camp sites in Dallas, Lowndes, and Montgomery Counties. These sites are where the original marchers of 1965 stayed.

At various points throughout each day, they are joined by middle and high school students from Dallas, Lowndes, Perry, and Wilcox Counties.

Although the students only march for a few miles, they, and the personnel from their school, view their participation as significant.

“They need to march with these people because they need to see how it feels,” said Sonja Taylor, Principal of Lowndes Middle School. “It (the struggle) means nothing to them because they have never done it. They need to be able to make the connection.”

Taylor brought 50 students from her school to join the march.

Isreal Eady, a Social Studies teacher at Keith High School readily agrees.

“We brought 26 students from Keith to participate,” said Eady. “We have to understand that history is an instrument to bridge the past and the future.

These kids are our future and there is no way that they can adequately react to their future without knowing their past.”

“I thought that it would be fun and educational and good exercise,” said Anie Searight, a Lowndes Middle School 8th grader.

Charles Steele Jr., the President and CEO of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) views the reenactment as more than a march to remember 1965.

According to Steele, they are marching for the future.

“We are marching to bring attention to the fact that the Voting Rights Act is about to expire in 2007,” said Steele. “We are the only race of people who must get an extension on the right to vote. One hundred years ago, the issue was racism, 50 years ago, the issue was racism, and today, the issue is still racism.”

Portions of the Voting Right Amendment are due to expire in 2007, including many of the enforcement provisions.

The SCLC is one of many organizations fighting to keep the enforcement provisions.

According to Steele, African Americans who believe that they have “arrived,” have just gotten off at the wrong station.

Whether they are singing and clapping in step to Negro spirituals, chanting and drumming the Buddhist Lotus Mantra, or calling out words of encouragement to those who are tired, these marchers plan to arrive in Montgomery as one.

“Somebody marched for me, and I got to march for somebody else,” said Shirley Gavin Floyd, the Business Manager of the Birmingham based Civil Rights Activist Committee.