50th Anniversary Of "Bloody Sunday" In Selma

Today marks 50 years since police brutally broke up the first march from Selma to Montgomery by peaceful civil rights demonstrators. The police were so vicious in their actions on that day that it has come to be known as "Bloody Sunday", and the pictures from that day were seen by Americans all over the country. That probably did as much as any other single event to change attitudes in this country.

The top picture shows the police brutality on March 7, 1965. The second picture shows the marchers being turned back at the Edmund Pettus Bridge two days later as they attempted again to march to Montgomery. The third picture shows the beginning of the third march on March 21st. This one was successful -- starting in Selma with 1,900 demonstrators, and finishing in Montgomery with over 25,000. That third march was successful because President Johnson stepped in to protect the marchers -- by sending 2,000 U.S. Army soldiers, 1,900 nationalized Alabama National Guard troops, and numerous FBI agents and Federal Marshals.

It would be an understatement to say that March 7th of 1965 was a landmark day for the civil rights movement, and today many political leaders of all races will be in Selma to mark the occasion -- well, most anyway. Conspicuous by their absence will be ALL of the Republican Party leaders of both the Senate and the House of Representatives. They were invited, but all found an excuse to not be there.

Why aren't they going? Haven't they been saying they would like to reach out to Americans of all races? If they meant that, then this would be their golden opportunity to do that. But that seems to have been just talk. It looks like it is more important to them to avoid angering the racists among their teabagger base. It's inexcusable, and you can bet a lot of minority voters will remember that in November of 2016.

UPDATE -- Evidently all the bad publicity over their refusal to go to Selma has gotten through to at least one Republican leader. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy now says he will go to Selma today.