Bloody Sunday, Part One

If the New York Times' Maureen Dowd had her way, the bloody part of this commemoration of a very important day in US history, would come from Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton duking it out in Selma, Ala.

But Bloody Sunday is much more sacred than that. The name comes from that date in March 1965 when scores of Black people, including a very young John Lewis who is now a senior congressman from Georgia, had the crap beat out of them as they tried to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in a march to the capital, Montgomery, to demand the right to vote. Because so many people, including those in the White House, were horrified at the televised beatings, another march was scheduled, with Martin Luther King Jr. leading the line of advocates along with clergy of various faiths who came in as reinforcements. And President Johnson decided to use his muscle to convince Congress to enact the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

This is an account of what happened that Bloody Sunday, taken from Juan Williams' Eyes on the Prize, a riveting companion book to the PBS series of the same name in the 1980s. Look for the book in your local stores; the documentary is available on DVD.

"'When we arrived at the apex of the Edmund Pettus Bridge," recalls Lewis, 'we saw a sea of blue[-clad] Alabama state troopers.' Gas masks hung from the belts of the troopers, who were slapping billy clubs against their hands....Major John Cloud ordered them to turn back. 'It would be detrimental to your safety to continue this march,' he said....Fifty policemen moved forward, knocking the first ten to twenty demonstrators off their feet. People screamed and struggled to break free as their packs and bags were scattered across the pavement. Tear gas was fired, and then lawmen on horseback charged into the stumbling protesters....'The police were riding along on horseback beating people,' remembers Andrew Young. 'The tear gas was so thick you couldn't get to where the people were who needed help'....Television coverage of the police assault interrupted the networks' regular programming; ABC broke into its broadcast of the film Judgment at Nuremberg. 'When that beating happened at the foot of the bridge, it looked like war,' recalls Mayor Smitherman. 'That went all over the country. And the people, the wrath of the nation came down on us.'"

Hillary is showing up with her ace in the hole for courting Blacks, former President Bill Clinton. Obama is speaking in the church that was headquarters for the Selma campaign, the Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church, and he has John Lewis at his side, along with others like Joseph Lowery who were King's aides and successors.

But rather that political strategizing, this day should be one for remembering what Blacks and some of their White allies went through to gain the right to vote that had been included in the US Constitution since 1870, but never really enforced. In essence, Blacks gained the right to vote in 1965 because of Bloody Sunday.

Florida Last Week; New Orleans So Many Months Ago

Am I the only one who noticed that within hours – hours! – survivors of that string of tornadoes that brought death and destruction in their wake in Central Florida saw the US government swing into action? People may be receiving relief checks as soon as Tuesday.

And back in New Orleans…..

On television and in newspapers the faces of Central Florida have been White, except for some of the prisoners (we used to call them “chain gang”) out there working on debris clearance. The faces of New Orleans have been Black. Even now, Black people are asking for help in rebuilding their lives and their New Orleans, as they did last week when US senators toured the Lower 9th Ward to see for themselves how destructive Hurricane Katrina was and how inadequate government response has been. Duh! What’s taken so long?

“Whatever response is needed, we will make it quick and sure,” President Bush said in a speech over the weekend, even as relief was already on the ground in Florida, where his brother Jeb, the most recent former governor, is still a wielder of clout.

Granted, New Orleanians may be too much dependent upon government to jump start their hearts while the attitude expressed after the tornadoes in Central Florida was, according to CNN’s Soledad O’Brien, “We don’t need FEMA; we have Floridians.”

But if one can say that the response to the tornadoes reflects lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina, then those lessons should be applied forthwith to -- and within -- New Orleans.

She Didn't Wear Red

Did you notice how many women wore red, the color of conformity since the days of Nancy Reagan as First Lady, for the State of the Union address Tuesday?

But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi did not wear red, a sign, it seems to me, that she wants to break out of that old political mold during the two years she will be in control, leading a Democratic agenda.

President Bush, the leader of a fractured Republican Party, played nice-nice in his State of the Union address while still stubbornly hewing to his Iraq policy. But he says he wants to seriously address immigration reform, health insurance for more of the 40 million Americans who have none, better public schools for our children and tax breaks for regular folks. "Our citizens don't much care which side of the aisle we sit on, as long as we are willing to cross that aisle when there is work to be done," President Bush said.

So you go, Madame Speaker! And I mean: Go to work.

"A Great Day in Harlem...A Great Day in the United States"

Hundreds of people made those kinds of declarations Sunday afternoon in a lavish Harlem inaugural celebration of Rep. Charlie Rangel’s elevation to what former President Clinton declared to be “the most powerful committee in the United States Congress.” He is now “Mr. Chairman” of the House Ways and Means Committee.

“It’s a new day,” Rangel himself declared, while describing a far-reaching agenda that includes addressing not just the war in Iraq, but also the rebuilding of the states devastated by Hurricane Katrina, poverty in general and education.

The Great Hall at the City College of New York could hardly contain people who came out to honor the chairman – and to eat all that great food supplied by Upper Manhattan restaurants.

Pioneering politicians were there, starting with the emcee, the new Lieutenant Govenor, David Paterson; his father, Basil; former Mayor David Dinkins; former Manhattan Borough President and masterful entrepreneur, Percy Sutton; former Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields and on and on and on. Entertainers present included Harry Belafonte, Danny Glover and Tony Bennett, who belted out an a capella version of “America the Beautiful.”

Basil Paterson, who with Dinkins, Sutton and Rangel have been powerhouses in the New York Democratic Party for decades, said he never doubted that Rangel would become chair of Ways and Means. “It took longer than I thought,” he told me.

Rangel said he often thought of leaving Congress, especially these last 12 or so years when Republicans ruled. But, as Assemblyman Keith Wright, who now literally sits in the seat once occupied by Rangel in the New York Legislature, told me: “He stayed the course.”

Now the question is what will he really be able to accomplish not only for Harlem, not only for Black Americans, but for all Americans. He is still a vigorous septuagenarian – and a wily politician.

Hail to Mr. Chairman! For now.

Commander in Chief – or in Desperation?

To the dismay of many Americans, and no doubt people in nations allied with the United States, President Bush is thinking of putting into harm’s way thousands more in our military services.

Why, Mr. President? To be partisan about it, even members of your own party are questioning your judgment. And don’t get the Democrats started.

“The public is way ahead of the Congress saying that enough is enough,” Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) said a few days ago. That after Iraqi fatalities among Americans has exceeded 3,000 and the wounded far outnumber the dead. On New Year’s Day, The New York Times ran the photos of 1,000 of the dead – teenagers, men and women in their 20s and 30s, a few in their 50s. They’re mostly from small towns across the country, according to a report in The Financial Times.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-California) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, (D-Nevada) said in a letter to the president: “Our troops and the American people have already sacrificed a great deal for the future of Iraq. After nearly four years of combat, tens of thousands of U.S. casualties, and over $300 billion dollars, it is time to bring the war to a close. We, therefore, strongly encourage you to reject any plans that call for our getting our troops any deeper into Iraq. We want to do everything we can to help Iraq succeed in the future but, like many of our senior military leaders, we do not believe that adding more U.S. combat troops contributes to success.”

The President’s message tonight has to be slamming to convince a whole lot of us that sending 21,000 more people to Bagdad makes any kind of sense.