Detroiter Retraces Her Father's Walk 50 Years Ago In Selma, Alabama
DETROIT (WWJ) - A crowd marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge Sunday afternoon to commemorate the five decades since "Bloody Sunday," in Selma, Alabama.
Detroit resident Lavonoia Perryman traveled to Selma, Alabama to participate in the march this weekend; 50 years later:
"My dad is from Selma ... my honor will be able to march across the bridge where the Perryman family, he's 90 years old and he's not able to march this time, but because of the movement I am able to march here in Selma, Alabama," said Lavonoia.
She said we shouldn't lose sight of continuing work to be done and the ensuing struggle.
On Sunday, March 7, 1965, some 600 marchers set out from Selma, Alabama, bound for the State Capitol in Montgomery, protesting the shooting of young civil rights worker Jimmie Lee Jackson.
They made it only to the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where authorities set upon them.
The violence of that "Bloody Sunday" was broadcast across the nation.
President Obama spoke on Saturday, where he said we've come a long way but still have plenty of work to do.
