Selma Anniversary

Today is the 40 year anniversary of the march over the bridge in Selma that was violently suppressed by Alabama cops and which played no small role in the passage of the Voting Rights Act.

This occasion has a bit of bittersweet for me though. Obviously the gains made by the Civil Rights movement were titanic and it's unquestionably the greatest social movement in American history. But with the old leaders of the movement passed on or aging and the slow rollback of the real gains of the movement, I wonder what will happen over the next 20 years. Last I heard, the Bush administration did not support the renewal of the Voting Rights Act which expires this year, claiming perversely, though normally for these "people", that it is racist against blacks.

I am reminded of a preacher I once knew who had been a leader in the movement in Macon, Georgia. Macon wasn't a hotbed of the movement but in some ways is more typical of the small local movements that fed the larger movement. I knew him about 6 years ago. He was probably close to 75 at that time. He was concerned about the future of the movement. He told me that if the need to protest began again, he was just too tired and old to lead again. So who will lead when that time is necessary?