him. >> he's terrific. >> he was great. he felt that the conversation needs to be enhanced, he feels that especially in the south we've gone back in time a little bit in the past decade or so. >> that's interesting. one of the things, certainly ferguson helps to frame the discussion that we'll have today with all the people that will have an opportunity to talk to, and the president says as well you were there in ferguson. i was there in ferguson, and what comes to mind and what you remember from ferguson when you join in on an occasion like today is the militarization of the police. back there it was ferguson police of 50 years ago. it was the state police here in alabama. and we're talking about 600 people on that day 50 years ago march 7th, who peacefully marched across the edmund pettus bridge demonstrating and protesting right behind us right there for voting rights, and they were met by an alabama state police on foot, on

horseback given warning and then they moved in. they set upon those marchers. those are the similarities that occurred to me. >> i'm struck by the fact that as i look at the crowds behind you, i see young faces and many of those young people were not born when the events that we're talking about 50 years ago happened, and robert you've been working the crowd tony, you've been working the crowd. do they understand what happened 50 years ago today? >> robert? >> i think they do. i absolutely do. but as we heard the elder civil rights leaders say in the past two days some of the two guys i've talked to, they still don't think that the education is high enough. meaning when these kids go to school are they really learning enough about the historical nature of the past 50 years and the civil rights movement. >> the answer to that is no. >> correct. we learn about moments. >> yes. >> like this, which is wonderful, but do we really know

the full story. >> the other thing del, i would add to that is that for a lot of young people today who you'll see behind us, who you'll see behind us, they have their own struggle, and they feel in some respect they have the same struggle for voting rights, and making sure that that franchise is protected today. as you know the supreme court struck down a section for article 4 of the voting rights act, and i'm sure one of the things that we're going to hear from the president today is a call to congress to strengthen that part of the voting rights acts from 1965. i think a lot of young people here today feel a kinship to that struggle 50 years ago. >> tony harrison, rabbit ray robert ray on the ground talking with younger people. bloody sunday was a turning point for so many, including three white ministers these

ministers heeded dr. king's call to march along and for that they paid a hefty price. >> there may be some tear gas ahead-- >> martin luther king jr. asked the nation's ministers, black and white to join him in selma for a march to montgomery, the state's capitol. it wasn't just a show of unity king knew that white ministers would keep a nation's attention focused on selma and put more pressure on president johnson. clark olson heard the call. >> is it hard for you to be here now? >> i've gotten used to it. i've been back here a number of times, and i've gotten used to it but there is still within me that old terror. >> nearly 50 years after bloody sunday we walked with olson. on the block that changed his life. >> this is walker's cafe.

>> olson joined two other white ministers olaf miller and jim reed for a quick meal. >> they ran out of everything but roast and fried chicken by the time we got there. >> moments after the trio left the cafe, they found themselves surrounded by white agitators. >> do you remember what they said? >> yes, i do. they called out primarily thing they called out was hey you niggers. we whispered to each other to just keep walking. >> a scuffle, panic and the sickening crack as something slammed into reed's skull. >> i heard that club at jim's head. >> olson was at his side as reed faded. >> i held his hand, jim's hand, and he squeezed my hand tighter and tighter and tighter--as the

pain worsened in him. and then his hand relaxed and he went--he went unconscious. >> two days later jim reed was dead. at selma's brown church protest turned to prayer, and the fire that time spread across the nation. >> thousands of people gathered in places like boston and chicago and new york and san francisco and so on. thousands of people gathered just to keep vigil. >> it's a moment olson sees echoed today. [ chanting hands up, i can't breathe ] >> hands up, i can't breathe.

the president spoke for justice. >> there long suffering men and women peacefully protested their denial of their rights as americans. many were brutally assaulted. one good man, a man of god was killed. >> that was jim reed. and in time a humble pastor from a far away place was remembered on the corner where he became a martyr. but that's the guy you remember. >> that's the guy that i remember. >> the bow tie. >> not at all a commanding presence. >> not heroic. >> not heroic. >> he didn't intend to be. >> no, did he not. >> joie chen selma alabama. >> let's address this situation that seems to to come about

every time the 50th anniversary of the voting act the rights on washington. martin luther king gave a speech on the steps of the capitol or the lincoln memorial, and there was this march and then all of a sudden the voting rights happened. it was not that quick. there were meetings held in every hillside of the hamlet, as martin luther king would say across this country to achieve this thing as we know as the civil rights movement. how big was the movement? how diverse was the movement. >> when dr. king--listen to that pitch, we listened to minister olson talk about james reeb, dr. king had received the nobel prize in 1964. and then he was in the selma chair. he reached out and invited ministers to come and join them, ministers from the north. he was talking about the clergy and white clergy, including

olson and reeb. >> i want to stop you there. my father was involved in in the movement too and i was struck by everybody who heeded that call risked not only their lives but livelihoods. we're not talking about america today. we're talking about america then, that even if you raised that objection it could meet that you would not only lose your job but you would lose your job forever. >> racism then was front and center and it had martyrs and germans reeb was one of those martyrs. and we can't overlook this. is that jackson, he was an u.s. army veteran. he was shot and killed, and he was killed on the 17th of february, which is why they had the march. when reeb came down, the attention, and dr. king was very involved. he knew that if white lives were

involved it would increase the visibility and the urgency of it. that's why he reached out to them. when reeb came down and he was killed, you heard the president mention him by name, it raised a whole level of the struggle. jackson was shot and dead. >> that's what we said, the whites kept coming. but what johnson did--that was on march 15th when he made that speech before congress, he also, when people were dying whey they died, when reeb died, the president of the united states picked up the phone called his wife and offered to fly his wife, and he found his father in casper, wyoming-- >> and just opposed to being

north and south. reeb being from boston. it was not happening just in the south but in the north and the west. >> we have to point out this was not just a black struggle. it is questionable whether it would have been questionable had only black people done it. another white person died in the cause. after the march she was trying to transport people. but the shame of it all and from mississippi when good man along with cheney, who was black from mississippi, when they were killed then there was this huge effort to find people responsible. but in looking for them, looking for them, they found so many bodies that had been dumped in swamps, that had been put in unmarked graves.

no one had ever--and to this day--no one has been held responsible for those deaths. that's the shame of it all. that we, unfortunately don't don't--back then, we didn't value the death of black people. >> that's what it says about back then. what about now. i was investigating the death of jonathan daniels back in 2006. what does it say that these deaths and these murders still remain unsolved to this day? >> well, to randall's point black lives did matter. right now the people in ferguson are saying black lives matter. it's the same issue isn't it. 50 years later we're book ended into this same issue to make sure that a black life is similar, equal to a white life. we have not reached that point yet. >> robert ray, live for us on the ground right now in selma.

update us, robert, on what is happening as we speak. >> well, del we just saw a group of dignitaries come in, about to take their seats behind me. you can tell that the crowd is really starting to fill in down the street. probably goes about two football fields thousands of people here, and they're still waiting to begin the celebration. it will kick off with the brown chapel choir who will sing. there will be many speakers, the president of the united states, obviously. the governor of the state robert bentley speaking of him we spoke with him on camera just a few minutes' back. we should have that video very soon for al jazeera. but to plain what he said to us a little bit. he said that he thought that this was a great moment for the state, and he thinks that there is still a lot to do and a lot to go forward in as far as race relations, not only in the south but all of america. we also asked him a couple of questions about the gay marriage law that we all heard about in

the last couple of weeks that was just put down again in the past week, repealed. he had interesting things to say about that. we'll have that video for you soon. the governor, the state as we await the president of the united states, his wife, his two daughters to arrive and speak to the nation here this afternoon in selma alabama del. >> robert ray for us on the ground in selma alabama along with our tony harris. we're live in selma. we're live in new york. we continue to watch the events that are set to unfold at the foot of the edmund pettus bridge. we should point out with the president of the united states, the past president of the united states, president w. bush will be there. and mitch mcconnell has declined to take the trip. his office will not explain why. house speaker john boehner will

not be there. we'll be right back.

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security council. >> about issues that impact your world. >> infectious diseases are a major threat to health. >> "the week ahead". sunday 8:30 eastern. only on al jazeera america. >> we're live in selma we're live in new york where we continue to take a look back and look forward at selma alabama 50 years ago today, a day that became known in the history books as bloody sunday. robert ray is for us in selma. robert, what is going on right now, and what are we expecting to hear from the speakers who are there, i understand you talked to a person who was very instrumental on what happened that day. >> exactly, del, we're awaiting the president to speak. we're waiting for other dignitaries to come to the

podium and speak in the next, really, couple of hours. the president delayed a little bit because of an incident in washington but a joyous occasion as many people move in to this area, a beautiful day in selma, alabama. we did speak for 90 minutes about a week ago to a confidant of martin luther king jr. a man who helped to shape the situation in selma 50 years ago and pushed ahead the voting rights act. and ambassador andrew young the former mayor of atlanta, we talked to him last week in atlanta. let's have a listen. >> we're about to have a press conference at 2:00. >> we were invited over to the white house to see president johnson, and in that meeting which was a very cordial meeting, he said that he had just literally broken his back in order to pass the 1964 civil

rights act. black people were just 10% of the population. to get something through for 10%, you really had to mobilize mobilize in that time 60%. it was very difficult to ask. the president said he didn't have the power to do that right then. when we left, i asked dr. king, well, what do you think? he said, and i thought he was being flippant. he said, we got to find a way to get the president some power. i said, what are you talking about? he said, no, i'm serious we need voting rights almost as soon as possible. why we couldn't wait was because he had never felt he would live very long. he wanted to do as much as possible in that lifetime. mrs. appeal i can't boynton from

selma called and said she was coming over. she didn't ask for permission. she said, we're coming over to see dr. king. when she got there she told us the story of how sheriff clark had locked down the town. it was against the law for more than two people to walk down the street together. he didn't allow political meetings in the church and anything involving race he considered political. mrs. boynton's husband had died, and he was a political--a lawyer, a political activist, and they wouldn't let her have his funeral in a church. he was buried from the middle of the street. the emancipation proclamation ceremony jim clark said that could not be held in a church. and so that was almost the straw

that broke the camel's back. that was the beginning of the selma movement. the beating on the bridge on bloody sunday occurred sunday afternoon while i think one of the stations was featuring the movie "judgment at nuremberg." here was the story of hitler's brutality, and they broke in to that and showed what was going on in selma. and in no way could people make the distinction the association. and decided they didn't want to be on hitler's side or jim clark's side. that america had to change. my father always told me that white supremacy is a sickness, and you don't get angry at sick people. you have to help them overcome their sickness. then when you compared jim

clark's ranting and raving george wallace ranting and raving and martin luther king's brilliant, articulate oratorical flourishes around freedom. >> 100 years from now the historians will be calling this not the beat generation but the generation of integration. >> you immediately wanted to be free with martin luther king. >> so you heard all those interesting things that he said. amazing to talk with him. he talked about a variety of topics fascinating man with a ton of experience, del. as the people are peer we get word that president obama just landed. we're pushed out a little bit longer because of the incident

in washington, but the festive festivities should get along here very soon in this festive day in selma. >> robert ray for us on the ground. i fairs met andrew young back in 1979. his mind sharp as a tact. randall, i'm looking now at these images, and i'm struck by the fact that all the people we're looking at are so young. there was no youtube. there was no social media. there were no cell phones. there were only three broadcast network. we're talking about a time when fried chicken was the meal of the day because you were not going to certain places because you just weren't welcomed. >> i was thinking about watching mrs. bonton making that trip. >> she's 103 now. >> she's 103 thou, but she was one of tens of thousand who is didn't receive the prominence of the leaders but just as

critical driving the movement step by step, church by church. we talk about brown's church in selma, which allowed the meetings to be held with dr. king and the others. the first baptist church, the one you mentioned earlier where the clintons had the received in 2007, they didn't want to have anything to do with the civil rights movement because they didn't want their church to be bombed. there were internal struggles that dr. king and andrew young and others had to overcome to get the movement moving. >> i was fascinated by mrs. boynton who was interviewed by another network and the point was made, what do you say about those who weren't there in the struggle. she said get off my back and move out. she has not lost a step. these people were so young. they walked away from jobs and careers.

there was no civil rights career back in 1965. it was something that they saw needed to be done in 1965. >> the adage if you love money you could be bought off. if you can be made afraid, you'll stay away from these struggles. these people were courageous and brave. they looked out and--you mentioned the technology. i was in text when that texas when that happened. i was in el paso texas, i was in the military. >> it's notyou couldn't google it. >> there was no cnn e continuing broadcast. >> or as we like to say al jazeera america. >> that's right. the new information was not there, without question. the local newspapers in el paso did not give much attention to it. i used to get "the new york times" on thursday. the sunday times. he would go to the airport on

thursday to get the sunday "new york times." that's how slow it was. >> and the film that you saw had to be put in the soup, as they say, a processer an hour and a half for a normal run and then cut and edited and looped. >> and fed on the telephone lines to go out to the rest of the country. but then our primary source of information was black media. "jet" ; "ebony." and in my hometown it was the "mississippi enterprise." you knew you would get your news, but it was not going to be that day. >> again we're waiting for the president of the united states. events being pushed back 25 minutes as we're told on the ground in selma but we whetted your appetite concerning a very

fascinating person, bringing back difficult memories for that alabama centurion. she may be 103 but her memories are clear as day. [♪ singing ♪] >> you can never remember selma and forget the bridge. here where the jefferson davis highway leaves town and heads north to montgomery is where the first steps of the last long journey in the fight against jim crow began. ♪ come by here, my lord ♪ ♪ come by here ♪ >> and here, a local woman barely known outside of her alabama hometown became the image of bloody sunday seen around the world. ♪ oh lord, come by here ♪ >> today amelia boynton is 103

but she clearly recalls the terror of that day. as officers tried to stop the marchers demanding the right to vote. >> seeing them with sticks with billy clubs anything they had they began to beat the people, and they did everything they could to get the people to run back while they were beating them. >> on the pettus bridge over the alabama river amelia was among the hundreds to face the brutal forces of a renegade sheriff. >> finally he hit me in the back of my neck, the back of my shoulder and it hurt, but i--i didn't know what to do.

i had no idea what i should do. thin the then the second hit fell to me, and i fell to the ground. that, i was unconscious. >> even then the torture didn't end. an officer pumped tear gas into her eyes and mouth. >> and somebody came and said to the state trooper somebody dead over there. he said, somebody's dead. if anybody's dead, we're going to let the buzzards eat them. >> but amelia boynton did not die. in time she and the marchers would make their way to montgomery. five months later president johnson forced through the votes

acts and 50 years later amelia is able to see her community guided by black leaders. joie chen, al jazeera, selma alabama. >> 50 years ago today les payne, those hurt were not transported by ambulances. ambulances didn't want to pick them up. they were taken to the church. >> yes, some of them were bleeding profusely. >> and not to put too fine of a point on it. this is not a foreign country. this is not apart apartheid south africa. this is our lifetime and many experienced it. for those who say we're in a post cable society, i suggest that we're not too far from that history, if not in actions certainly in mentality on the part of a lot of people who didn't want those marchers to

cross that bridge then, and don't want certain people to have that political power today. >> are you saying that the people who stood in the way of those marchers crossing the bridge are synonymous to those who cross the border to be with their families. >> i didn't draw that parallel, but what do you think, les? >> no, we are we're talking about a domestic policy. people who were brought here in chains and kept for 250 years working for nothing. that's the people in selma. my people are in alabama. your people in mississippi. no this is entirely different. >> just to cross the river from where we are there is the statue of liberty those words give me your tired huddled masses to be free. does it depend on the color of the skin?

>> no question. but the question on selma this this--you can't group all of these dis disparageed groups behind selma. selma was about making america who are citizens and have entitlement here. we're not coming in and getting a green card. >> when we talk about the issue of voting rights, the issue of selma, we're talking about whites who did not like blacks in america. for reasons unknown then and unknown now. and hispanic would argue why us. indians would argue why us. asians would argue why us. gays would argue why us? >> there were hundreds of jim crow laws on the books up until 1964. i was born under these laws. in 1964 there was a law on the

books that said we could not play in a vacant lot. we could not play in a vacant lot within three brooks. those jim crow laws, i think we have to go through the history not to give a history lesson, but since the compromise of 1966 when the black codes and the jim crow laws were put in affect, these laws were state terrorism directed against a defined people because of their skin color who were brought here on slave ships. >> fast forward to 2015, why are we discussing voting rights in states that say there needs to be the voting i.d. and registration methods. >> because--i covered apartheid era in south africa as a reporter. one of the things when mandela was released, and the anc was on band, they wanted to make sure

that the end of apartheid was irreversible. the question that we are grappling with here is the irreversibility of that entrenched state legalized segregation. can they reverse it? can they take away the underpinning of the voting right to act? can they set up segregation again? it's the irreversibility that we're grappling with. >> in that you don't have people who have a political say in the political system, it is everything. when you can't vote for whatever reason because you don't have i.d. because you can't get to the place to get an i.d. because you have to show your birth certificate, and we're going to get to it later because you have a criminal record, that keeps you from participating in the system, and having some say in what happens in your life. >> randall pinkston, let's look live right now at selma alabama, as you can see the events are starting to get under

way. we're going to take a brief break from our coverage, race in america: selma. we'll be right back.

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[♪ singing ♪] >> welcome back to our live continuing coverage of race in america: selma. you're listening to one of the many choirs who will perform at the edmund pettus bridge, that being a hymn that ends many congregational sermons on sunday afternoon before we go out and try to figure out what we're going to have for breakfast. tony harris, a very special guest with you. >> gentlemen, back with you joined by kerry kennedy the daughter obviously of robert kennedy, the man who was the attorney general of the united states in in the turbulent united states. kerry, good to be here with you. >> this i'm so glad to be here. >> this is a regular trip for you.

>> i've been here for four or five times in the last few years. >> this plays on many different levels for. >> you it's a walk through our history, but it's not just about the path. it's about the present and the future. we're here because of sell marks the march and the sacrifice of people here 50 years ago that we passed the voting right act. but there is no time in the 50 years that the voting right act has been more in peril. we have ferguson, we have police communities violence and those issues across our country. a lot of issues we're still grappling with. >> this is an incredible moment for the president today. he gets an opportunity to speak about civil rights, and he gets an opportunity to speak about race in america and as expansive a way for me as maybe we will see and have seen since 2008 when he was a candidate for the presidency, what are your thoughts about the moment here for this, and what

ispresident, and what is available to him today. >> you have to start with the marcherser their tremendous sacrifice. john lewis. we were at the brown chapel, the church that the marchers ran back to after they were so harmed and he said, we didn't know we would be bloodied. we didn't know we would be trampled by horses. we didn't know this was going to happen to us that day. and their capacity to endure that, and then go on and create such vast change in our country. i think it has to be--this is a call to action. this is isn't a walk through the past. this is a call to action. what can you do today? what can i do today? john lewis said that all we did was put one foot after the other and we marched. if he could march if he could endure that, surely we can do

more. >> does it feel a bit astonishing that here we are 50 years later, and we're seeing suppressive activity around voting rights and the ability of people to cast their vote, the franchise is threatened even today? >> our democracy is at risk. if people say you have to suppress voting in order to have a true democracy in this country, what does that mean? >> yes yes. >> it's really an insane way to go about it, and we have to protect--this is a time when our democracy is at risk. it's at risk with voting rights, it's at risk because of the koch brothers and the influence of big money in politics, and we have to stand up and say this is unacceptable. >> i have to tell new asking that question, i'm channeling the thoughts that so many people i've talked to on the ground, i would be remissed if i didn't ask you the question as i stand

here with kerry kennedy, i didn't ask the role of your father the pivotal role that your father played in the turbulent days, the turbulent years in which he was the attorney general of this country, what did you come to learn and understand about his role? >> well, you know, i work in the international human rights. >> you do. >> i've seen governments and ministers of justice grapple with similar issues around the world, and it gives me more and more respect for what robert kennedy and john kennedy did. you know, they were unique in in--not completely unique, but they were unusual in that they took the power of the federal government to come not to the side of the oppressors, not to the side of the george wallaces, but to the side of the freedom

riders and those struggling for justice. we need to do that today. we need to do that domestically and internationally and we need to be the country that says these are our values, and we're going to create change in our country. >> i know you're looking forward to the president's address. we all are. i'm going to get you back there before we get closed out. i'll part the seas to get you back. a pleasure. great to see you. thank you kerry. >> tony harris for us live on the ground in selma with a special guest kerry kennedy. our democracy is at risk, according to the daughter of the late robert kennedy. this is a young high school student from selma high school. let's take a brief listen to what he might have to say. >> i believe that my jen race will do our part and all the people are treated equally.

in closing i would like to thank the teachers and principal at our high school who thought of me as a student to recommend that i represent our school on the 50th jubilee celebration. that will conclude my speech. >> that is shannon baldwin a selma high school student. a journalist student. les payne and randall pinkston. les you're writing the biography of malcolm x. >> he was invited down and they would begin to verge from the peaceful passivist. they invited malcolm down.

he left the nation of islam at this point. >> did that change him as much as some have said? he started to see the world less black and white and more right and wrong. >> he said he would us said the mohammed teaches us, yes but not necessarily changed him totally, but it changed what he said publicly because he began to speak for himself. and it did, in fact, change him. >> there is a seen in the movie where malcolm meets with coretta scott king, fact or fiction, and did it set his role as the militant side of the more moderate-- >> no question about it. malcolm, he spoke to the students at brown ame and he offered himself king was in jail when he was there. in february king was in jail. he met with ms. king, and did in

fact--and, in fact, with the eyes on the prize they quote mrs. king's interview where clearly she was as moved touched and influenced by malcolm as they said in that film. hehe said, our tactics are difference. who would meet their death first, and of course both are killed at age 39. >> randall pinkston, could there have been a movement without a malcolm and a martin? >> i would have to say no. i mean, you had--you had both individuals inspiring people to action king's inspiration to action was non-violent.

malcolm's was more militant, if you will but both with the same goal, trying to get this country to live out to its promise of freedom and justice to all. a promise that was not being kept for african-americans then. and to some extent now. >> don't get me started on malcolm, but one point on one hand malcolm was in the north. king in the south. there was a huge difference in where they were targeting but the important thing was that they were the flip side of the same coin. king said famously that segregation, which is what he was fighting in the south leads the segregator with a false sense of superiority and the segregateed, a false sense of inferiority.

the false this false sense of white superiority had erected all these barricades, including the jim crow laws, they had to strike those down. king spent his time attacking the citadel that had been erected to protect the whites false sense of superiority. malcolm dealt with african-american's false sense of inferiority. this has not yet been achieved. >> were they not a microcosm every family had it's moderates militants, people who had an afro people who said i would keep my hair short. people who said this is a way to do this without confront the man, and then people who said confront the man. >> you also saw that at some point you had to cross the line. you will that when the students were being used to participate in marchs, their parents didn't want it to happen. the moderate leaders said no, we

don't want to use children in the marchs. but when these parents saw their children moving down the street confronting the police officers, they joined them. i recall reading one passage where the parents are saying, no no, and then saying, sing, children sing. they were doing what the parents did not have the courage to do. but when they saw their children doing it, they joined in, too. in that sense yes. both sides of the same coin. >> yet on that day as we watch those michaels from the edmund pettus bridge, the black and white footage that is so memorial, the world was not malcolm or malcolm but one world horrified about what happened at the foot of that bridge 50 years ago today on a day known as bloody sunday. our coverage off "bloody sunday sunday, race in america: selma" continues after this.

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[music] >> our special coverage, race in america: selma. that is the edmund pettus bridge. before that, the black and white images of what became known as "bloody sunday." it was not just one march but three. three marchs with one design ending in montgomery provoking the johnson administration to speed up passage of the voting rights act. all started at brown church but the march for unexplained reasons was stop. the march across the bridge stopping at points where no one knew exactly what to expect

along the way. there were three campsites. they gathered in lonsboro and mount sinai and then they stopped in montgomery where dr. martin luther king demanded that those who marched along side him and other blacks in the country be allowed to vote. we want to take you live to the scene on the ground in selma alabama. this is the new mayor of sell marks mayor george evans. >> i say to president barack obama, thank you for coming to selma once again on behalf of the city council and to all of the citizens of selma we thank you with open arms and heart for you being here today and on

this historical occasion? and to the first lady of the united states of america. [ cheering ] mrs. michelle obama tasha and malia, the first lady of selma alabama, jeanie evans, wishes each of you warm welcome and cheer. thank you for being here, mr. president, former president george bush and his wife, we appreciate you coming to selma on this occasion equally as well. this is a very-- [applause] this is a very humbling but yet proud occasion for us all. i am happy to be here at this

time and at this season. we have come a long way but we have yet a long way to go because we still have many, many bridges to cross.. selma is not still the selma of 1965. this state of alabama is still not the state of alabama of 1965. the majority of the people of this state are praying and hoping that with god's help we will eventually get it right. so that those who might follow us might have a better quality of life. the very powerful movie "selma" is rebuilding those bridges of

life. i want to thank oprah winfrey and carl garness and the entire cast and paramount movies for making it happen here in selma. [applause] and as i close there is a little girl here in selma alabama by the name of kendall sue murphy. kendall submitted a recipe to mrs. obama about two years ago about healthy living. the committee of that team selected kendall's recipe from all of the 50 states of these united states to be the winner. [applause]

and following that, kendall was selected last year to be the poster child for the healthy living. congratulations. thank you kendall. [applause] and also i would like to acknowledge another selma little girl. she wouldn't call herself little. jada armstrong. jada wrote a letter to the president this past year addressing the concern about immigration at selma high school. she's a student there, 11 grade i believe. the president responded with a letter back to her thanking her for that letter on immigration. he might even use some of her pointers as he goes on. thank you very much, jada. [applause] and lastly thanks to all of you who have come to selma today my

hope and prayer is that each of you will have an enjoyable experience, and you'll come back to selma one day again and you'll have a pleasant and safe drive home. i want to thank the volunteers, and there are many, who we've asked to be a part of this process. therethank you so much for volunteering. god bless america and god continue to bless selma. [applause] >> you've been listen together mayor of selma alabama that's mayor george evans probably no secret that he made sure that he mentioned his wife grace. anybody who is in the african-american community realizes when given the opportunity to address a national audience never ever forget the women you're married to. among those who are on hand for this the 50th anniversary of

what became known as bloody selma, president george w. bush, as you heard him say at the event in selma today. president bush signed the reauthorization of the voting rights act in 2006. but noticebly missing top members of the g.o.p. senator majority leader mitch mcconnell has declined to make the trip. his offense not explaining why. house speaker john boehner also not in attendance, but we learned late that the republican house majority leader made the the last-minute decision to attend. reports surfaceed that scalise back in 1972, and many thought that could help the tone for that. and the congressional caucus butterfield said this. the republicans always talk

about changing their brand and be more appealing to minority folks and be in touch with african-americans, he said this is very dispointing. randall pinkston well-known here at al jazeera al jazeera for things historical and accurate, and pulitzer prize winner journalist les payne, mississippi. i want to talk about what they thought about us back then. and when i say us, i an am talking about african-americans. they did not think that we were literate. when i went to school, they made me get take a test and told me that i may not fit in, i might be behind, but needless to say that did not happen.

what did they think about us. >> to tell you the truth, i don't know what they thought. i lived in a bubble. it was the time of segregation. my school, my doctor, my dentist, they were all black. >> some made the argument that america was better off in segregation. >> well, i understand, and i understand where he's coming from but i wanted to take an advance history course. it was listed on course options but i learned that the same course options were printed for the same school system, the black schools and white schools. white schools had advance history, mine didn't. i made up for it by reading on my own. but there were difficult things that we couldn't do because of color. i don't really know--i didn'