Students and faculty from Binghamton University gathered at the University Union bus stop last Thursday to take part in living history and re-enact the historic march at Selma, Alabama.
The re-enactment, organized by the Black Student Union (BSU), the Intercultural Welcome Committee and the cultural community, was one of the many events taking place during the Martin Luther King Jr. Week of Welcome Celebration at the University.
The marches took place in 1965, and consisted of three separate marches held along a 54-mile-long highway between Selma and Montgomery, Alabama. The protesters marched to demand fairness in voter registration, which had often been used as a tool to disenfranchise African Americans. The marches resulted in a violent clash between demonstrators and law enforcement on March 7, 1965, which became known as Bloody Sunday, and are widely considered a key factor in the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, a landmark victory in the civil rights movement.
Kayla Anderson, the president of BSU, the organizer of the re-enactment and a senior majoring in integrative neuroscience, said that BSU wanted to do something in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and that partnering with other multicultural groups to put on a re-enactment seemed like the perfect choice given the huge influence that the Selma marches had on U.S. history.
“The Selma marches were very impactful during the civil rights movement,” Anderson said. “We hope our re-enactment will represent how far we’ve come as a country, and how far we still need to go.”
The participants met at the bus stop in front of the Old University Union, and then walked in a loop around the center of campus, passing by Glenn G. Bartle Library and the Engineering Building, and walked through the Marketplace. Participants were encouraged to bring signs.
Khalilah Suluki, a junior majoring in philosophy, politics and law, said that she participated to demonstrate how much progress has been made, and why the fight for equal rights needs to continue, particularly at BU.
“We’re doing this march to show that the fight is still happening,” Suluki said. “On the University campus, there are sometimes instances where people feel that they are being excluded, and we want to show them that there are people who are there for them.”
One of the major themes of the march was unity and diversity at BU. Raaga Rajagopala, Student Association (SA) executive vice president and a junior double-majoring in economics and French, stated that she felt the re-enactment represented the power of peaceful demonstration on campus.
“I really want to stand in solidarity with Binghamton University students of color,” Rajagopala said. “Organizing is an incredibly powerful tool, and our student body is stronger when united.”
Jermel McClure, Jr., SA vice president for multicultural affairs and a junior majoring in political science, said that he wanted to participate in the re-enactment to spread a message of solidarity.
“We want people to understand how important the march was,” McClure said. “We are still fighting for some of the same things that they were back then.”
Other students like Maxime Maurice, SA vice president for programming and a senior majoring in electrical engineering, came to the re-enactment to show support for diversity on campus and in support of the welcome week programming.
“I’m here to support this incredible week of events,” Maurice said. “I think that it is very important to have all students participate.”