ATLANTA — This weekend, thousands of people will head to Alabama to mark the 61st anniversary of Bloody Sunday.
Channel 2’s Karyn Greer sat down exclusively with Martin Luther King III before he heads down to participate in the annual march.
“I’ve gone to just about every anniversary,” he said.
On March 7, 1965, hundreds of people led by the late Georgia Congressman John Lewis left Selma, Alabama and headed toward Montgomery, Alabama, demanding the right to vote and justice for the killing of Jimmie Lee Jackson.
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But when they reached the crest of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, they were met by a wall of state troopers who charged with batons and tear gas, beating and trampling demonstrators.
“[Lewis] really set the tone because back in 1965 on Bloody Sunday, he and Hosea Williams led that first march across that bridge,” King said. “Both of them were beaten, but John Lewis was in the hospital in critical condition for over a week.”
The attack shocked the nation and helped spur the passage of the Civil Rights Act.
“There were about three more marches. My father was able to lead the others. Actually, there was an attempt, and they finally made it from Selma to Montgomery, and Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act,” King said.
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King says he feels like the next generation has reimagined his father’s dream, and are poised to move forward.
"I feel like we’re taking a temporary pause. I have to say temporary because if our society and civilization is going to be saved, we’ve got to make a course correction. This stuff we’re doing, it’s not sustainable," he said.
He says the next generation of leaders is making their voices heard, but it will take a village to move the country forward.
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