‘bloody sunday’ Thousands jam bridge, mark 50th anniversary

Associated Press

SELMA, ALA.

Thousands of people crowded an Alabama bridge Sunday to commemorate a bloody confrontation 50 years ago between police and peaceful protesters that helped bring about the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

A day after President Barack Obama had walked atop the Edmund Pettus Bridge, many jammed shoulder to shoulder, many unable to move, as they recalled the civil-rights struggle.

Police said at least 15,000 to 20,000 people had joined the crush on and around the small bridge. Many came from around the country for events commemorating the landmark moment.

William Baldwin, 69, of Montgomery, brought his two grandsons, age 11 and 15, to the bridge Sunday so they could grasp the importance of the historic march he took part in.

“They’re going to take this struggle on, and we have to understand the price that was paid for them to have what they have now,” Baldwin said. “It wasn’t granted to them; it was earned by blood, sweat and tears.”

Attorney General Eric Holder, speaking at Brown Chapel AME Church on Sunday, drew parallels, without being explicit, between the events of 1965 and today. He noted that the “Bloody Sunday” march was sparked by the murder of activist Jimmie Lee Jackson, “an unarmed, young black man.”

“An unarmed, young black man,” he repeated.