Pre-Jubilee non-violence training event underway in Selma

From the West Alabama Newsroom–

The official kick-off for the 59th Annual Bridge Crossing Jubilee is three days away — but one part of the event has already started.

Kingian non-violence training is going on all week in Selma — at the Selma Center for Non-violence Truth and Reconciliation.

Over a dozen participants from all over the country have come — to learn the will and the skill of non-violence — the strategy that powered the civil rights movement.

Nikesha Tilton is the Director of training at the Selma Center.

“The trainees that are here this week are going to learn how to incorporate the principals and the steps of non-violence into their current, either the work that they do, or the vision that they have for the change that they want to see in their communities,” she said.

The training event is one of more than 40 separate Jubilee events that focus on education — politics — and music.

“When you got a lot of different events everybody finds something to do that they really want to do and they really enjoy themselves. It’s just something for everybody,” said Jubilee Co-Founder Hank Sanders.

The Bridge Crossing Jubilee draws tens of thousands of people to the city of Selma each year.

It officially kicks off with a mass meeting at the historic Tabernacle Baptist Church — Thursday night.

The annual civil rights event commemorates Bloody Sunday — the Selma to Montgomery march — and the signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.