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The excitement in Selma is growing the closer we get to the 50th anniversary of the voting rights March, but tonight people from all over the nation stopped to honor the past and look forward to the future.
The first mass meeting before the Selma to Montgomery March happened right here at Tabernacle Missionary Baptist church, and like 50 years ago, this church was a full house. This time, it was in honor of the martyrs who died.
This site inside Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church wasn’t much different than in1965–a packed house, standing room only–but on this night 50 years later,the atmosphere was different. People were not afraid.
“Remnants member what they suffered and they paid the ultimate sacrifice as well as as well as read commend ourselves what it’s like to just doing what is right because at the end of the day this movement was about really about right versus wrong what’s right versus wrong,” said Otis Culiver, Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church Pastor.
People from all over the nation came to commemorate the martyrs who lost their lives to make the 1965 voting rights act a reality. Dr Martin Luther King’s daughter Bernice King says Alabama has come a log way since 1965 but still has room for improvement.
And we are at that place now that we too must shift our mentality and our behavior and our practices and we’re going to have to do something radically different if we are going to be able to continue to progress forward as a nation and the world,” said King.
Culiver agrees, but he says this 50th anniversary celebration could help change society’s mentality to become more accepting.
“The best is yet to come I do believe that we have great days ahead of us as long as we can come together work together,” said Culiver.
