BOSTON — A group of Boston activists and students left the city on Friday to take on a 20-hour bus trip down to Selma, Alabama on the weekend marking the 55th anniversary of Bloody Sunday.
The students and activists will take part in the annual bridge crossing jubilee in Selma, commemorating the Civil rights march that helped secure the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
Their trip will take them all the way from Boston to Montgomery, Selma and Birmingham, Alabama 55 years after a weekend of non-violent protests in the South helped secure the landmark federal legislation that prohibited racial discrimination in voting.
“I feel like I’m completing a journey with myself, and so when I found out about this opportunity, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh,’” said Javon Turner, a UMass Boston student.
For Turner and many of his classmates, it’s their first time going down south and to the state of Alabama.
Once they arrive, the group will be engaging in teach-ins and tours of historical sites connected to the civil rights movement.
“I think it’s important to connect with your history in a tangible way,” said Stephanie Germain, a UMass Boston student. “It’s so easy to say this happened so long ago and things are different, it doesn’t really matter but it’s important that we know all history affects our future so we should be aware.”
“Travelling by bus is intentional because it recalls the whole civil rights movement,” said Reverend Dr. Rodney Petersen, Executive Director of Cooperative Ministries. “Coming back, we intend to get fired up for what we need to do for interests here for social justice, for the homeless, for education.”
It’s more than just a trip to learn and connect to their history, for these activists and young dreamers it’s about looking back into history to learn how to better move forward and effect change.
“When you look at the direction the country is moving in, it’s important for young people to see what they have the particular role to continue the struggle whose shoulders they stand on now,” said UMass Professor Dr. Anthony Van Ver Meer.
Organizers of the even say the question of voting rights has never been more important than this year.
“The best thing you can do is to be more informed and I think this is part of that,” said Germain.