President Obama‘s Speech at Selma’s 50 year Commemoration and Anniversary

President Barack Obama giving a monumental speech at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama

President Obama‘s Speech at Selma’s 50 year Commemoration and Anniversary

(Reminding us that, as a matter of fact!..... WE Matter)

By Glenn Peppers                                               3-7-2015 9:52pm 

Picture this! It is around 3:15pm Saturday afternoon, March 7th 2015, and normally I would be doing something completely different during this time of the day, but for some strange reason, I was compelled to watch CNN and MSNBC! Well of course it was the 50th year anniversary, and commemoration of Bloody Sunday in Selma Alabama was taking place, Live! 

Well of course, none of the networks carried or showed any segment of the President’s visit there, let alone broadcast his speech, or the march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge! Neither did any of the local news outlets (that I notice) mention anything about the President's monumental speech! I sound as if I'm shocked, don't I? I'm really not!

As a child, I remember the quiet and hush in my household, and in my vicinity of Detroit as this event unfolded on that uncomfortable Sunday! On top of all that had happened so far in America at that day and time, no one knew what to expect in Detroit, or in Nashville (my dad's hometown); or anywhere in this country for that matter. 1965 was an odd time in america, for it was snuggly nestled and shrouded in unrest! John Lewis was there! 

Congressman John Lewis' impassioned speech at Selma 2015

As I sat down to watch the President speak, John Lewis spoke first. This battle hardened solider for Civil Rights in america during the civil rights era of america spoke impassionedly about the time he encountered National guardsmen and other officers of the law, while traversing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in the name of freedom and justice at age 25, back in 1965. 

John Lewis at age 25 in 1965 crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama

Spry and spirited. Congressman Lewis is still viable agent of change, and a symbol of freedom through his ability to stand up, fearlessly for what he believed, to be the a task done for the betterment of all!

Watching Congressman Lewis calmed me down, as I quickly became settled and fairly at ease as I was only moments ago up and about and restless doing things around the house. Believe me, I was not quite ready to sit down and watch some long drawn out speech. Yet something felt different about the urgency of it all! It was as if I was being held captive! 

This was something I clearly had to hear! Well in fact it was not only something I  had to hear. It was something I needed to hear!

President Obama Hugging John Lewis after Lewis' speech

President Obama's speech was by far the most riveting and most moving speech I've heard since the "I Have a Dream Speech!" His words flowed like explanatory manna from the palate of someone who has settled in his mind, just how he feels about America and all its potential and good done thus far! How 'bout that Giuliani! Here’s your "How President Obama feels about America!" In a nutshell - 101! And all in just about 40 minutes or so. 

The Speech of a Lifetime

Barack Obama's impassioned speech took everyone within earshot of his words on a timeline adventure to excellence, and elegance thru eloquence and articulation! This speech was the thing I needed to hear! 

John Lewis and other marchers in 1965 crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge 

With my ever fading faith in my countries ability to fairly treat all of its citizens fairly and with respect and honor, especially under the guise of what was written and deemed livable for all americans, crafted and enacted hundreds of years ago by men who they themselves didn’t fully understand the veracity of what they had written! It was as if God himself was making me sit through this one, as a matter of urgency! 

Never have I been so moved, and so awestricken by a speech and a mission to consciousness! Remembering Ferguson and in New York, and all the many people growling and howling and clamoring that all those people protesting the murder of an unarmed child, and a man in surrender mode gasping that he cannot breathe were somehow was unjustified, so reminded me of what happened on that Bloody Sunday 50 years ago! 

Back then millions of whites and other people intolerant to change and other cultures thought too that those peace loving ministers and average everyday people and marchers and protesters were hooligans and thugs as well! 

The sentiment then was much like it is today! "How dare they challenge the status quo! All they do is burn down their own neighborhoods!” Well, people burning up things and rioting aren't marching and peacefully protesting!

  

Peaceful march and protest. hand in hand. Arm in arm!

In 1965, these were people who quietly, and non-violently went about speaking against injustice and mistreatment of innocent people and the conditions thereof. And in so doing, they were beaten and battered that awful Sunday, just as they are today! And all anybody wanted (Then and now) is justice and right standing!

I feel that Barack Obama's speech will go down in the annals of history as one of the most engaging and encouraging, and most uplifting and factually sound speeches since King's "I have a Dream" speech! If it doesn't, that would be a shame! (You can read the transcript to the speech by clicking on the Link right here!... http://time.com/3736357/barack-obama-selma-speech-transcript/)

C-Span, American Heroes Channel and CNN and MSNBC carried it. None of the major networks carried it. I didn't bother to check FOX network, as I was too enthralled at the splendor and golden chain of knowledge and historian intelligence being imparted to millions like myself (who needed to hear this speech) by the President to hear anything negative uttered by Fox's divisive and insulting rhetoric! 

Barack Obama's speech reminded me that through all the hardships we've gone through and endured in america, only one thing really matters, and remains top priority in and about this America that we live in, and it is "WE!" We? We who you say? Who, is we?... 

The President at the Dr. Martin Luther King Memorial Statue in Washington D.C.

"We the People!" Check it for yourselves and see that on most any document or paper and/or declaration that speaks about the rights and fair conditions of the many peoples of this great nation, and it has always referred to any and all of us as, "We!" Not black, not white, not red, not yellow or brown. Its "We!" 

When the President touched on this! My lightbulb filament reignited! 

Since day one, and after all! Its always been about only one group of people here in America. And that is We!... Or in other words, "Us!" Every living breathing human being that makes up this great nation called America! Yet the nay sayers and the separatist and race-baiters and hate-mongers will always tell you different! Well let me warn you people! Be ye not Fooled! We are the prize! Yes YOU!

It is true! And by far, the work is not finished! Just like maintaining a home!... The work is never done! There is always something left to do! Yet through it all, Hatred, Greed and Intolerance clouds the mission and the mind, and slows the progress! 

Selma March across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, March 7, 2015

Building a better America is something We All have to do. Until everyone understands this. We'll have to reflect of the Selma's and the Marches on Washington, and will forever after always have to remember Birmingham in order to remind us that it is all about Us! “We Matter!”

Glenn Peppers