The march over the bridge is an annual event to mark the anniversary of the 1965 Selma to Montgomery walk for voting rights. Photographs and television footage of the brutal police attack on this peaceful demonstration, where scores were seriously injured, horrified millions across the country and around the world.

Groups of marchers came this year from all over the country--some as organized contingents from schools or churches, others on their own--as part of the special activities marking the 35th anniversary. The crowd, estimated by the police at 10,000, swelled due to the presence of President William Clinton. This is the first time a sitting U.S. president has participated in the commemoration.

Many others participants, especially from cities and towns in Alabama, made a last-minute decision to attend as a protest against a so-called "Southern Independence Day" rally the previous day in Montgomery. The rightist event called for the Confederate battle flag to be flown on top of the state Capitol. The State Capitol Police generously estimated that crowd at 2,500. Front-page pictures in the daily newspapers showed a sea of the racist flags and headlines like, "'Johnny Rebs' rise again."

Many of the Selma marchers were aware the Confederate battle flag was originally flown from the state Capitol in the early 1960s by then Gov. George Wallace, as a symbol of racist opposition to the movement against Jim Crow segregation. It flew there until 1993, when it was removed by order of a Montgomery judge. Other Selma marchers noted that the so-called "Southern Independence Day" has no connection with any special event in the U.S. Civil War, but was selected by the organizers as a direct counter to the Selma commemoration.

Rev. Joseph Lowery, a leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, responded to the Montgomery rally by saying, "We have a message for them. We're not going back. We're just going forward.''

At the Selma march, a group of 20 family farmers who are Black from Clinton, Alabama, in Greene county, participated with signs protesting the policies of the U.S. Agriculture Department and the Clinton administration in relation to farmers. "Pay the Black Farmers Now," said one sign, referring to the duplicitous activities of the government in relation to a settlement in the discrimination lawsuit brought by Black farmers. After admitting years of discriminatory policies, leading in many cases to Blacks losing their land, the government agreed to paying $50,000 cash awards and debt-relief, but, in more cases than not, has reneged in paying up.

At the pro-Confederate battle flag rally, speeches presented "the South"--in reality Southerners who are white--as historical victims in a world wracked by moral decay and privileges going to the undeserving. Speakers denounced the NAACP, the media, and the federal government.

They worked overtime to claim their rally was not anti-Black, while at the same time peppering their talks with racist code-words.

Michael Hill, president of the League of the South, one of the main sponsors of the racist action, invoked "states rights" in his speech to the crowd. "States rights" was the rationale used by diehard opponents of desegregation, such as Alabama's Gov. George Wallace, when they sought to prevent the end of Jim Crow in the 1960s.

"It's a shame that so many people have to throw out the baby with the bath water here," said Hill. "States rights is a longstanding American principle. Just because it was invoked during the years of segregation--not just in the South but elsewhere--doesn't invalidate that political principle." Hill also acknowledged: "I have no doubt that if I was a Black and some Klansman had waved the battle flag in my face, then I probably wouldn't look on it too kindly. Symbols of all sorts can be misappropriated."

Among the prominent marchers was Johnny Teeter, who scaled the Capitol in January to plant the Confederate battle flag. In an op-ed column leading up to the march, Teeter sounded some of the political themes the rightist forces are using. "Allowing the flag to be removed showed that Alabama will not fight for anything," he wrote. "If we can continue to bow down, then what will they be calling for next? I believe it will be what is left of our freedom.

"We have been losing it for years," he continued. "States have been losing more and more of their rights as socialism continues to creep in. We continue to see hard-earned tax dollars going to people who don't work at all."

Several dozen supporters of Black rights organized a counterprotest to the racist action at the Civil Rights Monument some blocks away. A few people who tried to hold up signs against the Confederate flag at the site of the right-wing action were quickly moved out of the area by cops. Four of them were arrested.

Cindy Jaquith is a member of the United Steelworkers of America in Birmingham, Alabama.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home