Sharpton, Kucinich to attend Selma march anniversary activities
Originally published in the Herald Tribune
MONTGOMERY, Ala. --
Democratic presidential candidates Al Sharpton and Dennis Kucinich are expected to be in Selma Sunday afternoon to participate in activities commemorating the 39th anniversary of the "Bloody Sunday" march over the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
Southern Christian Leadership Conference President Fred Shuttlesworth, civil rights leader Jesse Jackson and U.S. Reps. John Lewis, D-Georgia, and Maxine Waters, D-California, are also expected to participate in the commemorative march over the bridge.
The march is part of a full weekend of activities scheduled in Selma to remember the March 7, 1965 march for voting rights for blacks when marchers were beaten and tear gassed by state troopers and sheriff's deputies.
Two weeks later, King led a voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery.
State Sen. Hank Sanders, D-Selma, one of the organizers of the event, said thousands of people are expected in Selma over the weekend.
On Monday, there will be a caravan of vehicles slowly driving the 50 miles from Selma to Montgomery and stopping at landmarks where the march stopped 39 years ago. Sanders said the event will end with a 1 p.m. news conference in front of the federal court house in Montgomery.
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