Wednesday, March 18, 2015 // The Statement
8B

Over half a century ago, Martin Luther 

King Jr. preached at the Brown Chapel AME 
Church in Selma, Alabama — inspiring 
masses of people to risk their lives for 
freedom during the civil rights era. A teenage 
Ora Gamble was among those inspired and 
marched through the streets of Birmingham, 
where the Alabama State Troopers shot her 
down with a hose. At the 50 year anniversary 
of Bloody Sunday on March 8, 2015, Ora stood 
behind me as present-day State Troopers 
blocked the church to protect the tens of 
thousands of people who showed up for the 
jubilee. In front of us, Michael Brown Sr. led 
his family hand-in-hand, reminding us of how 
the fight for justice is not over. This union of 
past sacrifices and current movements was 
a constant presence as participants from the 
original marches crossed the Edmund Pettus 
Bridge next to young marchers singing and 
holding signs for Black Lives Matter.

V I S U A L S T A T E M E N T : S E L M A

A family waits for President Barack Obama to speak at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge Saturday.

Alabama State Trooper Davis controls the crowds outside the Brown Chapel AME Church, where Martin Luther king Jr. used to attend services.

Members of the NAACP crosses the Edmund Pettus Bridge as part of the 50 year anniversary of 
Bloody Sunday.

Members of the Augusta, Georgia chapter of 100 Black Men, a national civic organzation, rest in the 
shade of the Selma town suburbs before the march toward the bridge Sunday.

Activists Auriel Ebonie and Denetria Smith gather with a group to sing and chant for Black Lives 
Matter after crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge Sunday.

Photo Story by 

Virginia Lozano

“ T h e Ma rc h i s No t Ye t F i n i s h e d ”

