Bloody Sunday Anniversary Inspires Walk Across Brooklyn Bridge
In a march organized by Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, hundreds of people walked over the Brooklyn Bridge to remember the seminal walk across a bridge 50 years ago in Selma, Alabama.
Known as “Bloody Sunday“ and recently made popular in an Academy Award nominated movie, March 7 in 1965 was the day when peaceful protestors were gunned down as they tried to cross a bridge as they walked from Selma to Montgomery, the capital city of Alabama. The protestors, including civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., were marching as part of the struggle for civil rights and the vote for black Americans. When the attack was over 17 people were hospitalized, having suffered severe beatings leaving many with serious wounds, or beaten unconscious.
The attack was covered by news outlets, with televised images of the brutality shown on television all over the United States, sparking a widespread reaction, and prompting President Lyndon Johnson to send a voting rights bill to Congress immediately.
Saturday’s march across the Brooklyn Bridge was part of a wide-spread national commemoration of this important turning point in US history. Dubbed “Selma is Everywhere” participants walked arm-in-arm across the bridge, remembering that auspicious moment.
“I am so proud of my friends for what they did. And what we are asked to do today, frankly, ain’t much” said former New York City Mayor David Dinkins.
“Selma is no longer just a location. It is a concept, and a mindset, and a belief” Borough President Adams said.
