MAPLEWOOD, NJ – Civil rights activist Joanne Bland urged young people to keep fighting until there was no more arguing during her talk, Bloody Sunday: Memories of a Civil Rights Prodigy.
The program was organized through a partnership between the SOMA Action Racial Justice Committee, the South Orange / Maplewood Community Coalition on Race (CCOR), and SOMA Justice in celebration of Black History Month.
Bland recalled her days in Selma, Alabama, fighting for civil rights as a child. Bland was first arrested when she was eight years old with her grandmother trying to get a vote. At the age of 11 she crossed on Bloody Sunday with John Lewis, Rev. Ralph Abernathy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
Sign up for the SOMA newsletter
Our newsletter delivers the local news that you can trust.
You have successfully registered for the TAPinto SOMA newsletter.
Bland spoke about the needs of the movement, like her 14-year-old sister, who was beaten by police to the point that she took 35 stabs in the head. At the same time, she spoke encouraging words when asked how young people can continue the movement today.
“I know how it was and I can see how far it has come, but we’re not where we need to be,” said Bland.
Within months of Bloody Sunday, President Lyndon Johnson signed the 1965 Suffrage Bill. Bland said it increased the number of registered black voters in Dallas County Alabama from 250 to 9,600 out of 15,000 eligible black residents.
In the months since George Floyd’s murder, Bland said she was so proud of all the organization and work Black Lives Matter has done to bring people together.
“You have to have the rainbow at the table and find a way to form coalitions so we can get rid of this stuff,” Bland said. “It’s clearly not just a black and white problem anymore.”
Growing up on George Washington Carver’s public housing projects, Bland shared her experience with the intersection of race and class in the United States.
“Poverty affects your whole being,” said Bland. “Poor people are at the bottom of the totem pole.”
For example, she said she first learned from a new textbook in 1967 when she incorporated high school into Selma. Previously, Bland said, for all of her school years, the separate schools she attended received textbooks only after four years of use by white students.
Looking to the future, it is inspiring to see how the next generation is active. “Every time I get discouraged, a young person says something that ignites the fire in me,” said Bland.
Get your local news delivered to your inbox for FREE every day. Sign up at www.TAPinto.net/enews to get all the news. Celebrate something special? Present your wedding, baptism, bar / bat mitzvah, graduation ceremony, reunion and MORE on TAPinto milestones.
OTHER LOCAL NEWS:
Extinguish your fire hydrant
Awards for SOMA Downtowns
District school rooms unsuitable
All virtual schools this week
Water main break
Black history month
POV: Get the vaccine
Multiple vehicle accident
TAPinto SOMA is a free online newspaper serving the townships of Maplewood and South Orange Village without a paywall. TAPinto SOMA is accredited by the New Jersey Press Association and is a local news organization serving the community.
Comments are closed.