Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Selma, 1965
You are a marcher on the 70 plus-mile journey from Marion to Montgomery, Alabama, when Gov. George Wallace stops the march after crossing the bride at Selma and violence breaks out. After the federal government steps in and ensures you complete the march describe your feelings once you finally reach Montgomery and hear Martin Luther King speak in front of the state house.
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When I heard MLK's speech I felt free. I felt as if he was taking words right out of my mouth. As tired and weak as I was so happy to have completed the march. As i listened to him speak I looked back on what happened at Selma. "[the troopers] were wearing blue helmets, blue jackets, and they carried clubs in their hands" i Heard people screaming everywhere someone ran by me and screamed "Oh, God, they're killing us" all that fear was worth getting to see MLK speak.
ReplyDeleteonce i herd MLK talk at the march i begain to actually realize what this is all about. we are not here because we have nothing better to do, we are not here to piss the white people off, we are here because we are people and have rights just like everyone else and should be treated as so. MLK speaks for freedom and we listen, he talks about a day when we can all sit in a dinner together and not be treated as scum. we are not scum and should no be treated as though we are, MLK reminds us all that what we are doing has a porpuse and that our porpuse is a good one. man-kind will see the day when blacks and whites become equals and i know this because of MLK, and i believe this because of the black and whites that can already get along.
ReplyDeleteMartin Luther King is my Hero!! finally some one steps up to the plate and makes a difference in society. What a wonderful man!MLK's speech was so inspiring it gives me courage to move on and not longer fear the white police.
ReplyDeleteAfter hearing MLK's speech it mad me feel like noone was going to harm me or anyone anymore. I felt awesome and extremly inspired. MLK mad me riealize everything we have done was for a good cause. It made me feel good no matter what because I realized white people can think what they want but every little thing we do is a step closser to freedom.
ReplyDeleteAs i remember approaching the top of the bridge all i could hear was fuss and scattering. When we saw the stretch of white policemen waiting there patiently to put their weapons to use "people quit talking: it was so quiet then that all you could hear was the wind blowing and our footsteps on the concrete sidewalk"(Webb 562). Questions were rushing through my mind, was this 5 day hike truly worth the pain and suffer that i am about to fall into? The answer is yes. Although brutal beatings and embarrassment was publicly broadcasted, i am glad the world got to experience our suffrage. Listening to King's words gives me hope, he reminds us that we are doing the better in life and that it is meaningful. He reminds us that one day we will all be equal.
ReplyDeleteI was on both walks. And both were sucessful. The first one I learned what my people are able to overcome and what we are able to prove. It was also one of the most terrifying experiances of my life. I was walking near my friend and he says it best: "Just all of a sudden it was beginging". We barley started to procsess what was happening when the wall of police chased us back.The tear gas stung my eyes. The second march was even more special because of what we had gone through to make the walk possible. Standing as a witness to MLK's speech was life changing. He spoke with such hope, determination and courage he made everyone in the audiance belive that we can do anything and that our fight will be worth it. It is about more than any single one of us, it is about a truly free America.
ReplyDeleteCompleting this march was no easy thing for us, so when I heard Martin Luther King's speech, I felt relieved and knew we were one step closer to being free. After being beaten and all the other violence that was done to us, listening to MLK's speech about freedom never sounded so sweet. We have made it through the march, even through all of the hardships, "All I know is I heard all this screaming and the people were turning and I saw this first part of the line running and stumbling back toward us."(Webb 564) Everything Martin Luther King spoke about in this speech is what i believe will be acheived.
ReplyDeleteWhen i finally heard Martin speak, a sigh of relief and joy came out of me. I was grateful to be listening to this man. I was inspired listening to him. Knowing what it took to get here for our people makes the feeling of accomplishment so much bteer.
ReplyDeleteI can see the tired look on everyone's faces as hoards of brothers and sisters are now destined to realize this march as an accomplishment to symbolize that we can not be stopped and we will keep on going until we find our freedom. We have now come to a hault over the bridge where many cops on horseman and policemen with bats are staring at us with silence. So quite i could here the thoughts of the policemen and how they were going to stop us here. As groups of blue shirts started throwing gas cans and swinging nightsicks i began to feel the pain of inequality at this moment. Just as i was running away i discovered channel 8 news covering this event and i thought to myself, perfect. Now the whole nation can feel our suffering. MLK's speech is still running through my veins and filling me up with the same adrenaline from the march as a write this. We can not be stopped until we succeed.
ReplyDeleteMy brothers and I were walking from Marion to Montgomery and we were really tired and our legs hurt real bad, Hearing MLK speak encouraged me to fight for what I believe is wrong. We were walking in the bridge and the "people quit talking: it was so quiet then that all you could hear was the wind blowing and our footsteps on the concrete sidewalk"(Webb). We were brutally beaten and my nose and eyes were burned by the tear gas. But in the end it was worth it because that will bring national media attention to our cause and we got to hear MLK speak in the state house which made me want to continue to protest and gain rights for our people!
ReplyDeleteI was second in line at the first march, " it was so quiet then that all you could hear was the wind blowing and our foosteps on the concrete sidewalks" I took multiple shots from a state troopers billy club. When i got the word that the national guard was going to escort us on our second attempt on the march joy overcame me, a step had finally been made in the right direction. Once we reached Birmingham and MLK gave another one of his moving speeches, i fainted due the excitement i was feeling
ReplyDeleteThe first march was a nightmare, especially when the troopers attacked us. "All I know is I heard all this screaming and the people were turning and I saw this first part of the line running and stumbling back toward us"(Webb 564). However, when the federal government stepped in to help us, it was nothing short of uplifting to have over 1000 people join us to march to Montgomery and hear Dr. King speak.
ReplyDeleteWhen we reached Montgomery my tired legs and body seemed instantly healed with the feeling of freedom. I began to cry when the words came out of Martin Luther King's mouth. I flashed back to recall how we all over came the patrol officers who "looked like a blue picket fence, streched across the highway."(Webb) Before I never tought our march to Montgomery would succed because of Governor Wallace. However we came together and marched for a second time and succeed. The best part about it was the relief at the end, to actually hear the world come out of Mr. King's mouth was unreal! I am still amazed with the way the crowd reated to his speech. I was one of many who was crting for happines and freedom.
ReplyDeleteAfter what happened on the first march I was so relieved to hear the government was going to protect us. The first march was so scary,"And I looked and I saw the troopers charging us again and some of them were swinging their arms and throwing canisters of tear gas"(Webb 564). When we finished the march the second time around and saw MLK speak I was ecstatic. I felt we have finally overcome.
ReplyDeleteWhile on the march to Montgomery with my great grandfather, Gus Donnelly, we both shared the same emotions. Not only was I scared of the police that surrounded us the whole march, but I was also filled the feeling of equality for the first time in my life. As both of my grandfather’s hopes as well as mine for a great speech from MLK were high, no one could possibly predict the feeling of freedom an African American citizen felt once MLK’s speech. MLK’s speech not only inspired millions such as myself, but this speech, in my mind, was the turning point in this civil rights movement.
ReplyDeleteI remember marching up the bridge and I hear a woman saying “Oh my Lord”. There it was a group of state troopers. It has been blocked. It was silent the whole day with no sign of trouble and now we encounter it. Here is when we have a problem I said to myself. The troopers rush us and everyone just ran back, getting trampled by a crowd of frightened people getting hit by the troopers. A cop told me to leave quick and I said no because this is also my country. From my response he hits me so I grab the club from him and start beating him back, I am now tired of them treating me like I am nothing to them.
ReplyDeleteWhen I reached Montgomery I felt a sense of great relief. It was such an intense feeling making it there, past the police officers who "looked like a blue picket fence, stretched across the highway" (Webb). After enduring so much pain, so much suffering. My weary body reaching MLK and listening to his speech. I cried and felt peaceful, finally.
ReplyDeleteafter hearing MLK's speech, i was so relieved and completely inspired. after hard long marches we finally got to montgomery, and i was hopeful and so excited,i could finally go to sleep at night without worrying, i knew this was the start of a happy and peacful turning point for everyone.
ReplyDeleteThe march itself, of which I was a part, was truly a sight to behold. We walked as one, a large group fighting for something worthy. When the line of patrolmen was seen, everyone trudged forward, eyes straight ahead. We were not about to let the white man beat us once more. But when they started "charging us again and some of them were swinging their arms and throwing canisters of tear gas," many of us were legitimately afraid, including myself. Looking back on it, I would have done nothing differently, but at the time, I wanted nothing more than to be safe, to be free, and to be wanted.
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