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| (That's John Lewis, now a Democratic Representative from Georgia, in the white trench coat getting his skull fractured in March 1965.) |
Fifty years ago this weekend was "Bloody Sunday" in Selma, Alabama, a key turning point in the Civil Rights Movement. The stomach-turning, violent police clubbing of peaceful protestors made many Americans who might have been, up until then, indifferent towards the movement civil rights converts. Unfortunately, 50 years later, many of the spiritual heirs of the segregationist power structure are still indifferent, if not actively hostile:
This weekend marks the 50th anniversary of "Bloody Sunday," when civil rights activists trying to march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., to the state capital of Montgomery to work for voting rights were instead beaten with billy clubs by state troopers and local police.
Nearly 100 members of Congress will be in Selma during a three-day event to mark the anniversary, as will President Obama and former President George W. Bush. The lawmakers who won't be there are the members of the Republican leadership team in the House of Representatives. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell isn't bothering to show up, either.There are dog whistles, then there are air raid sirens.
