Locals march Broadway bridge, remember “Bloody Sunday”

Fifty years ago Sunday a group of African-Americans marched 50 miles from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. They were attacked while protesting to be treated equally and to have the right to vote no matter the color of their skin.

“We needed to do something that was more visible in the town,” Rev. Lynn Cameron said.

Cameron from the Idaho Falls Unitarian Universalist Church organized a vigil for justice.

With signs, American flags and candles in hand, more than 50 people marched across the Broadway Bridge.

“I see it as more of a remembrance because I see that as different. This was not a good day in us history, This was a very sad day in U.S. history. Fifty years ago, we wanted to cry. There was something distinctly wrong with the country that day and it was symbolized in that beating we were out of sync with the declaration of independence,” Jim Francis said.

On March 7, fifty years ago civil rights activists marched to the Alabama state capital fighting for equality.

When they reached the Edmund Pettus bridge, police officers met them with billy clubs and tear gas.

Dan Henry is the father of three African American children and said that even though it isn’t as extreme, prejudice still exists.

“We also have issues today on going with equality and freedom and justice and that we need to keep working,” Henry said.

Cameron believes it’s a work in progress.

“There’s no question in my mind that we’re working on it, we’re better than we were but we’re not where we want to be with equality and fairness,” Cameron said.