More Attendees Announced for 2019 Bridge Crossing Jubilee in Selma
Organizers of the annual Bridge Crossing Jubilee in Selma have announced the names of more people who will be coming to this year’s event from across the country. The list includes potential 2020 presidential candidates.
“We expect five or six presidential candidates, a number of national civil rights leaders as well as other national leaders,” former state senator and organizer Hank Sanders said.
So far, the candidates who Sanders says have confirmed in writing that they will attend are Julian Castro, former Secretary of HUD and Mayor of San Antonio, Texas, and potential candidate U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio. Sanders says other names will be released as they confirm in writing or as they announce their participation.
As previously announced, former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is planning to attend.
Other names that have been announced include: Susan Taylor, former editor of Essence magazine; Hank Aaron, baseball great; Roland Martin, national media personality; Gwen Carr, mother of Eric Garner, who was killed in New York; and Rev. Mark Thompson, SiriusXM Satellite Radio Host and television personality. These people are expected to attend the Freedom Flame Awards on Saturday night, March 2.
Civil rights leaders scheduled to be in Selma include Dr. William Barber, co-chair of the Poor Peoples Campaign and leader of Repairer of the Breach; Rev. Jesse Jackson of Rainbow PUSH; and SCLC National President Charles Steele, Martin Luther King, III, and Rev. Bernice King.
Sanders notes the annual Jubilee involves 40-50 events and tens of thousands attend the event every year. This year’s event runs Feb. 28-March 3. It remembers the Bloody Sunday civil rights march of 1965.
