Annual Ala. Rememberance Turns Into Rally
Originally published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Annual Ala. Rememberance Turns Into Rally
By KYLE WINGFIELD
Associated Press Writer
SELMA, Ala. (AP)--An event commemorating a violent clash that became a galvanizing moment in the civil rights movement had the air of a political rally Sunday, with the crowd focused on getting President Bush out of the White House.
Several hundred people gathered before Brown Chapel AME Church for the 39th anniversary of the ``Bloody Sunday'' march over the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma.
In 1965, state troopers injured scores of activists with tear gas and billy clubs as they attempted to march across the bridge. Video footage from the march sparked outrage and led to a much larger, successful march to Montgomery. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed five months later.
Voting also was on the minds of those gathered Sunday--namely, voting Bush out. Several people sporting T-shirts or buttons for presumptive Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry, longshot candidate Rep. Dennis Kucinich or the anti-Bush group MoveOn.org attended the rally, and many of the speakers implored the crowd to register to vote.
``It's very important that George Bush is not re-elected in November,'' said the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson told the crowd that registering blacks could be the difference in this fall's election, contending that 8.5 million blacks nationwide are not registered to vote.
``We can't win by doing less than our best,'' he told the crowd.
After his speech, Jackson talked up Sen. John Edwards as a possible running mate for presumed Democratic nominee John Kerry.
``He speaks of two Americas--one black and one white, one rich and one poor,'' Jackson told The Associated Press. ``He does it from the base that the South is the most crippled by two Americas, and so I think (Kerry) would give John Edwards very favorable consideration.''
When asked whether Edwards would be his choice, Jackson said: ``I'm very impressed by the race he ran, and I'm very impressed by the response of people to John Edwards. He has a message: Heal the breach.''
Kucinich had been scheduled to speak at the rally but had to cancel because of a family emergency. Campaign officials declined to elaborate.
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