Distinguished Pioneers Awarded For Paving Way Of Voting Rights Act
Selma isn’t the only city gearing up for a big weekend. In Montgomery, local and national leaders came together to honor some of the pioneers who paved the way for the voting rights act to become a reality. Nearly 400 people from all over the nation came to the Selma to Montgomery Commemorative Luncheon at the Renaissance hotel in downtown. Some big names like Jesse Jackson, Amelia Boynton, and Dr. Fred Gray were just some of many who were there. 50 years since Bloody Sunday; 50 years since martyrs were beaten; and 50 years since white and black could finally vote. It’s a moment daughter of Viola Liuzzo, Mary Liuzzo, says she’ll never forget — when her mother transported marchers around Selma. On one of those occasions, she was shot by people believed to be members of the KKK. “We wont stop until what she wanted is what everybody wants. And in the mean time, if they don’t want it lets just make sure they get prosecuted when they don’t,” Said Liuzzo. Liuzzo wasn’t the only person honored as a distinguished pioneer. Reverend C.T. Vivian, Amelia Boynton, Dr. Fred Gray, Andrew Young, and Reverend Jesse Jackson were also honored. “I pray that whatever I say or do will be to the glory of God and his righteousness and his privilege of helping me to live to have somebody else in my footsteps,” Said Boynton. But Reverend Jesse Jackson says it’s all thanks to the nameless faces that Alabama, the nation has gotten this far. “The rather relative and nameless faces, the people who made it possible would not fit in the glamour of all this. It’s easy looking in the rearview mirror and say how wonderful it was that somebody else died for you,” Said Jackson. Gray, an attorney for Civil rights activists like Rosa Parks, and Dr. Martin Luther King, says it’s those people who deserve the awards. “They are the ones who laid the foundation so we an honor the persons that we honor here today and I accept this award on their behalf,” Said Gray. During the program a representative from the Chamber of Commerce also spoke announcing the Montgomery will host the 60th Anniversary of the Montgomery Bus Boycott on December 1.
