Bloody Sunday

For what occurred on March 7,

There was truly no excuse.

Although the day started out calmly,

Before long all hell broke loose.

 

The year: 1965.

Selma, Alabama: the place.

Six hundred marchers for freedom

And state troopers stood face to face.

 

The goal of the marchers was a demand

For equal rights in the voting booth,

For the tight grip of Jim Crow laws

In America was an ugly truth.

 

The plan: a peaceful march from Selma

To the Alabama capital, where

They would take their grievances

To the governor. What's fair is fair.

 

Reaching the Edmund Pettus Bridge--

Named, by the way, after a man

Who'd been a Confederate general

And member of the Ku Klux Klan--

 

The marchers stopped. The state troopers

Told them all to turn around.

However, the marchers, one of whom

Was John Lewis°, stood their ground.

 

Soon the state troopers advanced,

Wearing gas masks and waving their sticks.

They threw some whips and tubing wrapped

In barbed wire into the mix.

 

Men, women, and children were beaten.

Blood was flowing; marchers were screaming.

Some of white spectators were

Holding Confederate flags and beaming.

 

That evening, while millions were watching

Judgment at Nuremberg on TV,

The movie was interrupted by scenes

Of the brutal assault for all to see.

 

The day is known as Bloody Sunday--

A day that we should never forget.

And yet today the voting rights

Of people of color are still under threat.

 

When we restrict the right to vote,

Democracy's up against the wall.

No one is free until ALL are free.

Equal rights means justice for all.

 

-by Bob B (3-6-21)

 

°American politician, statesman, and civil rights activist who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1987 until his death in 2020

Reviews

[barleygirl]

Your poem is chock full of strong details to remind us how long this fight has been going on & how far from being over it is. It's always good to put things into perspective as you do, showing historical facts, becuz so many are blowing smoke up our asses regarding the meaning of current voter suppression laws . . . it's hard to deny an age-old tradition while it may be easier to defend one or two stupid laws (((HUGS))) Fondly, Margie

[Samuel Dickens]

Amen. All those white "Christians" didn't behave at all like Jesus, did they? I'm also reminded of "Birmingham Sunday", when a bomb killed four little girls and injured 22 others. What a distinction, Alabama. That brand of hatred didn't exist just there, of course. If only mankind could evolve into something better. These are great words you write, worthy of remembrance.