Share and Follow
The city of Selma, Alabama, is once again a focal point of history and reflection as thousands gather to commemorate a pivotal moment in the civil rights movement. This weekend’s events mark the 61st anniversary of the infamous Bloody Sunday, when state troopers violently clashed with civil rights marchers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge on March 7, 1965. This brutal incident shocked the nation and ultimately propelled the passage of the Voting Rights Act, a crucial piece of legislation that dismantled voting barriers for Black Americans in the Jim Crow era South.
As participants prepare for the commemorative march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, scheduled for Sunday, the atmosphere is charged with a renewed sense of urgency. This year’s anniversary is shadowed by the looming potential for significant changes to the Voting Rights Act itself. The U.S. Supreme Court is deliberating on a case that could alter a key provision of the Act, which has historically ensured that certain congressional and local districts are designed to empower minority voters to elect candidates who represent their interests.
For those like Charles Mauldin, now 78, who endured the brutality of Bloody Sunday, the concerns are deeply personal. “I’m concerned that all of the advances that we made for the last 61 years are going to be eradicated,” Mauldin expressed, reflecting the anxiety shared by many about the potential rollback of hard-won civil rights advancements.
The case under the Supreme Court’s consideration originates from Louisiana, where the role of race in drawing congressional districts is being debated. A decision that curtails the use of race as a factor could have far-reaching implications, possibly enabling Republican-led states to redraw districts in a manner that could diminish the influence of majority Black and Latino areas, which typically lean Democratic.
Justices are expected to rule soon on a Louisiana case regarding the role of race in drawing congressional districts. A ruling prohibiting or limiting that role could have sweeping consequences, potentially opening the door for Republican-controlled states to redistrict and roll back majority Black and Latino districts that tend to favor Democrats.
Democratic officeholders, civil rights leaders and others have descended on the southern city to pay homage to the pivotal moment of the Civil Rights Movement and to issue calls to action. Like the marchers on Bloody Sunday, they must keep pressing forward, organizers said.
Former state Sen. Hank Sanders, who helped start the annual commemoration, said the 1965 events in Selma marked a turning point in the nation and helped push the United States closer to becoming a true democracy.
“The feeling is a profound fear that we will be taken back — a greater fear than at any time since 1965,” Sanders said.
U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures won election in 2024 to an Alabama district that was redrawn by the federal court. He said what happened in Selma and the subsequent passage of the Voting Rights Act “was monumental in shaping what America looks like and how America is represented in Congress.”
“I think coming to Selma is a refreshing reminder every single year that the progress that we got from the Civil Rights Movement is not perpetual. It’s been under consistent attacks almost since we’ve gotten those rights,” Figures said.
In 1965, the Bloody Sunday marchers led by John Lewis and Hosea Williams walked in pairs across the Selma bridge headed toward Montgomery. Mauldin, then 17, was part of the third pair behind Williams and Lewis.
At the apex of the bridge, they could see the sea of law enforcement officers, including some on horseback, waiting for them. But they kept going. “Being fearful was not an option. And it wasn’t that we didn’t have fear, it’s that we chose courage over fear,” Mauldin recalled in a telephone interview.
“We were all hit. We were trampled. We were tear-gassed. And we were brutalized by the state of Alabama,” Mauldin said.