Free Essay Sample. Bloody Sunday

President Eisenhower did not want to become a civil rights crusader (Simon, 2018). He became a limited supporter of the civil rights movement to counter communist propaganda that correctly pointed out the inherent contradiction of America claiming it was the leader of the free world while still having Jim Crow laws in place to oppress the Black community. After the Brown v Board of Education case, he got the legal justification to use the power of his office to desegregate public education. He then signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1957 which guaranteed African Americans the right to vote (Simon, 2018). In 1960, he signed into law amendments to the Civil Rights Act that penalized anyone who destroyed voter registration records or attempted to block a person from registering to vote as a step to further secure the voting rights of the Black community (Simon, 2018). The voting rights of the Black community were further secured through the 1964 Civil Rights passed after the assassination of President Kennedy.

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Jim Crow laws had created a culture in the South's White society that was hostile to the Black population having equal voting rights (Gates, 2019). Furthermore, the Democratic party was afraid that they would lose the South if members of the Black community had equal voting rights. One such place was Dallas County, in the state of Alabama, where despite the Black community making up the majority of its residents, only two percent of them were registered voters. Members of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) had been frustrated in their attempts to register black voters in the county seat of Selma (Pratt, 2017). In 1965, this situation caught the attention of Doctor Martin Luther King who went to Selma to lead SNCC's peaceful demonstrations. These protests happened in the town of Selma and its surrounding environs and led to the arrest of Doctor King and hundreds of other protestors. During the course of these events, a demonstrator was shot and killed while trying to protect his mother (Pratt, 2017). The death of this protestor became the inspiration for Doctor King to lead a protest march to the state capital to table their grievances to Alabama's Governor George Wallace. Even though the protestors knew Governor Wallace had given his state troopers an order to do whatever they wanted to prevent the march, about 600 voting rights advocates left the Brown Chapel AME Church on Sunday, March 7 1965 headed for Montgomery (Pratt, 2017).

Initially, Doctor King remained in Atlanta with his congregation but planned to join the marchers the following day (Pratt, 2017). When the marchers started to cross the Edmund Pettus bridge over the Alabama River, the marchers came face to face with a wall of state troopers. Sheriff deputies on horseback stood in reserve behind this wall of state troopers, and behind them, White spectators were there waving confederate flags Mayor John Cloud told the marchers to disperse. When they stood their ground, the state troopers advanced (Pratt, 2017). The state troopers viciously attacked the protestors with batons and teargas. Between 17 to 50 protestors were badly injured. National Television coverage of this vicious attack on protestors turned a local protest about equal voting rights in Alabama into a national civil rights event.

Public outrage at what the national news called "Bloody Sunday" swept across the nation (Pratt, 2017). The public outrage led to protests in solidarity with the voting rights marchers. Some left their homes for Selma to join Doctor King second attempt to march from Selma to Montgomery. These demonstrators were turned back again at the Edmund Pettus Bridge. The march went ahead after a federal court ordered Governor Wallace to stand down the state troopers. The voting rights marchers made a third attempt to walk to the state capital from Selma on March 21st protected by Alabama's National Guard troops who had been federalized by President Lyndon Johnson. By the 25th of March when they reached Montgomery the crowd had grown to 25,000. Bloody Sunday shifted public opinion in favor of a new law that would go further to protect the voting rights of the Black community through the Voting Rights Act, of 1965. Today, even though the bridge over the Alabama river still has the name of a white supremacist, it is a civil rights landmark.

The excessive use of force by the police during the civil rights era damage the reputation of law enforcement in the eyes of the Black community (Palmiotto, 2016). An equivalent event in recent times were the events that led up to the violent protests in the city of Ferguson in the state of Missouri (Moran, and Waddington, 2016). An unarmed black teen called Michael Brown was shot by white police officer called Darren Wilson(Longley,2020). A grand jury ruled that officer Wilson had done nothing wrong. There was compelling evidence that Michael Brown was belligerent, attacked the officer, and reached for the officer's gun. When the grand jury's decision was rendered, peaceful protests became violent. In the wake of the Ferguson riots, public opinion about police activity remains divided along racial lines. Most members of the Black community are skeptical about how White police officers (Longley,2020).

Just because law enforcement officers enter dangerous situations daily when they are doing their jobs, they are not allowed to use a disproportionate amount of force to overcome resistance (Moran, and Waddington, 2016). The National Institute of Justice suggest that police officers must only use the amount of force they need to control the incident they find themselves in , complete an arrest, or eliminate the threat of harm or death(Walker, and Archbold, 2018). Since there is no universal definition of the proper use force, different police departments set their standards on the proper use of force however, there is an understanding that they will direct their staff to use a reasonable amount of force.

Conclusions

The events that precipitated Bloody Sunday was the fight for the Black community in Alabama to have equal voting rights. Members of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) had been frustrated in their attempts to register black voters in the county seat of Selma. In 1965, this situation caught the attention of Doctor Martin Luther King who went to Selma to lead SNCC's peaceful demonstrations. During the course of these events, a demonstrator was shot and killed while trying to protect his mother. The death of this protestor became the inspiration for Doctor King to lead a protest march to the state capital to table their grievances to Alabama's Governor George Wallace. Even though the protestors knew Governor Wallace had given his state troopers an order to do whatever they wanted to prevent the march, about 600 voting rights advocates left the Brown Chapel AME Church on Sunday, March 7 1965 headed for Montgomery. When the marchers started to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge over the Alabama River, the marchers came face to face with a wall of state troopers. The state troopers viciously attacked the protestors with batons and teargas in an event on national news called Bloody Sunday that turned a local protest into a national civil rights event.

The excessive use of force by the police during the civil rights era damaged the reputation of law enforcement in the eyes of the Black community. An equivalent event in recent times were the events that led up to the violent protests in the city of Ferguson in the state of Missouri. Just because law enforcement officers enter dangerous situations daily when they are doing their jobs, they are not allowed to use a disproportionate amount of force to overcome resistance. Since there is no universal definition of the proper use force, different police departments set their standards on the proper use of force however, there is an understanding that they will direct their staff to use a reasonable amount of force.

References

Gates Jr, H. L. (2019). Stony the road: Reconstruction, White supremacy, and the rise of Jim Crow. Penguin Press.

Longley, R.(2020). Ferguson Riots: History and Impact. https://www.thoughtco.com/ferguson-riots-history-and-impact-4779964

Moran, M., & Waddington, D. (2016). Back to the Future: Race and Riots in Ferguson, Missouri. In Riots (pp. 141-170). Palgrave Macmillan, London.

Palmiotto, M. J. (2016). Police use of force. In Police use of force (pp. 29-50). CRC Press.

Pratt, R. A. (2017). Selma's Bloody Sunday: Protest, Voting Rights, and the Struggle for Racial Equality. JHU Press.

Simon, J. F. (2018). Eisenhower vs. Warren: The Battle for Civil Rights and Liberties. Liveright Publishing.

Walker, S. E., & Archbold, C. A. (2018). The new world of police accountability. Sage Publications.