Racism as One of The Most Important Issues Facing America Today

In November of two thousand sixteen, the platform for greater participation in civil rights, For Freedoms put up a billboard of “Bloody Sunday” and written across the picture was “Make America Great Again”. In the nineteen sixties, Civil Rights were a prodigious movement for African Americans and their rights. Pertaining closely to this image was the act of the policeman stopping African Americans during the “Bloody Sunday”. This billboard is open interpretation for anyone but mainly catches the attention of Trump supporters given that Trump's slogan is the header of the billboard. At the bottom of the billboard reads “not authorized by any candidate” meaning no person or community paid for this to be broadcasted but For freedoms thought differently by saying “It is time for artists to become more involved in the political process” and they posted this on a highway in Mississippi.

In the words of Kirsten West Savali “The billboard shows the iconic image of the Rev. Hosea Williams of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), who was then chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, trying to lead freedom fighters across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala. They were all stopped by Alabama state troopers.” This author gives a clear description of what was happening in the photo. “Here's the thing: For Freedoms' 'Make America Great Again' billboard seems more triggering for black people than a wake-up call for white people. If being subversive is the point, it's a fail for me; instead, it feels unnecessarily violent and exploitative—a reminder of the apartheid state that black people in this country, especially in the Deep South, have never quite been able to escape.”(Savali).

In the city of Pearl, Mississippi where the billboard was posted there were numerous claims of peoples representation of this image “It could mean that they’re acknowledging police brutality and they want to do something about it, or it could be racist” A man said who was interviewed by WLBT in Jackson. But given this information the For Freedoms campaign wanted for this billboard to open the mind of the people on a more deeper level and not on a superficial level. In the words of For Freedoms “What we hear today in some political rhetoric id that making America great means enforcing a single vision on America.” He said “What we’re trying to do is use art to provoke people to talk about these things and bring them to a different kind of conversation, one that goes beyond symbolic gestures of what America is supposed to stand for.” This shows the deeper meaning into what For Freedoms were trying to get across. This billboard is not a one sided discussion for people, this topic is so widespread in a multitude of ways for so many people to have their own opinion on the Civil Rights Movement but more importantly on the “Bloody Sunday” that happened on March seventh in nineteen sixty-five. In Edmund Pettus Bridge, Selma, Alabama where African Americans were expressing their first amendment right to peacefully assemble.

According to Nadra Nittle “The activists were attempting to walk 50 miles from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery, Alabama, to protest voter suppression of African Americans. During the march, local police officers and state troopers beat them with billy clubs and threw tear gas into the crowd. The attack against these peaceful demonstrators—a group that included men, women, and children—sparked outrage and mass protests throughout the United States.” With these details given to the readers this gives a clear explanation of what was going on in this year, It goes without saying that racism is one of the most important issues facing America today. Therefore elucidating the impression that the saying “History repeats itself” is the truth, in addition to this saying that is why For Freedoms chose Donald Trumps saying “Make America Great Again” because history repeats itself and it gives off a racist ambience. The fifteenth amendment ratified that colored men could vote, it was not until the nineteenth amendment that women of any race could now vote. Now that African Americans could vote that did not mean that they still had to go through the hassle of voting. In the words of Nadra Nittle “During Jim Crow, African Americans in Southern states faced severe voter suppression. In order to exercise their right to vote, a black person may have been required to pay a poll tax or take a literacy test; white voters didn’t face these barriers. In Selma, Alabama, the disenfranchisement of African Americans was a consistent problem. Activists involved with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee were trying to register the city's black residents to vote, but they kept running into roadblocks. When they protested the situation, they were arrested—by the thousands.

Making no headway with smaller demonstrations, the activists decided to step up their efforts. In February 1965, they began a voting rights march. However, Alabama Governor George Wallace attempted to suppress the movement by prohibiting nighttime marches in Selma and elsewhere.”

Two days after the events of Bloody Sunday, other demonstrators set out to make the march from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery, Alabama. Bettmann/Getty Image.

The Impact of the “Bloody Sunday” was revolutionary that even Barack Obama spoke about it on the fifty years of anniversary in twenty sixteen “Footage of police attacking peaceful protesters shocked the country. But one of the protesters, John Lewis, went on to become a U.S. Congressman. Lewis is now considered a national hero. Lewis has discussed his role in the march and the attack on the protesters. His high profile has kept the memory of that day alive. The march has also been reenacted several times. On the 50th anniversary of the incident that took place on March 7, 1965, President Barack Obama delivered an address on the Edmund Pettus Bridge about the horrors of Bloody Sunday and the courage of those brutalized: “We just need to open our eyes and ears, and hearts, to know that this nation's racial history still casts its long shadow upon us. We know the march is not yet over, the race is not yet won, and that reaching that blessed destination where we are judged by the content of our character—requires admitting as much.'(Nittle) Not only did this billboard spark interest in the local community and worldwide, but also it gave people a history lesson that is still going on.