Hindus for Human Rights organizes Indian-American delegation at Selma Bridge Crossing Jubilee
57 years ago, a multi-racial coalition of civil rights activists, led by a 25-year-old John Lewis, attempted to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama as part of a demonstration in support of voting rights for Black Americans. This group of over 600 people was brutally attacked by Alabama state troopers, and the shocking media footage from that day, known as “Bloody Sunday,” spurred a new phase for the civil rights movement.
For decades, civil rights activists have honored the events of Bloody Sunday by organizing an annual Bridge Crossing Jubilee. Last year, HfHR served on the organizing committee for the virtual Jubilee.
This year, we organized the first-ever Indian-American Delegation to the Selma Bridge Crossing Jubilee.
Our group was a multi-faith, multi-caste “rainbow coalition,” comprised of Hindus for Human Rights, Dalit Solidarity Forum, Indian American Muslim Council, and India Civil Watch International.
At a time when civil rights in our homeland of India are being threatened like never before under the Hindu nationalist government of Narendra Modi, we believe it is our duty to stand in solidarity with civil rights leaders and movements here in the United States.
In Montgomery, we visited the gallery of our friend Frank Hardy, one of the judges for our Civil Rights Essay and Art Contest and a "foot soldier" who was just 5 years old when Bloody Sunday took place. We paid our respects at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, dedicated to the thousands of Black Americans who were victims of lynchings, and we reflected on the need for a similar memorial in India for victims of caste and religious violence.
In Selma, we joined our friends at the Poor People’s Campaign for an interfaith panel where our Executive Director Sunita Viswanath spoke powerfully on the need for Hindus to stand up for justice. And in the historic Tabernacle Baptist Church, where Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. preached in 1963, we heard the prophetic words of Rev. Dr. William Barber, calling on us to see our struggles as interconnected.
We left Alabama more committed than ever to fighting for civil rights and racial justice. We'll be back next year and look forward to deepening our relationships with grassroots activists and community members in Selma and Montgomery. If you’re feeling inspired, please join us and consider supporting our work.
And if you know any young South Asian students in grades 6-12, please consider sharing our Civil Rights Essay and Art Contest with them. From Dr. B.R. Ambedkar to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., activists fighting identity-based marginalization, exclusion, and oppression have long seen parallels between the struggles against caste discrimination and anti-Black racism. Through either an essay or a work of art, we invite students to engage with these intersecting struggles.
The deadline is March 30, 2022, and we're offering $1,000, $500, and $250 prizes!
In the words of the Poor People's Campaign: Forward Together, Not One Step Back!
In solidarity,
Hindus for Human Rights
