March 7, 1965

image from timelife.com

March 7, 1965

“You must not be afraid to speak up, and speak

out for what you believe. You need courage, raw

courage.”--John Lewis

Twas at Brown’s Chapel

Church where the freedom riders

gathered, fists unclenched.

Martin Luther King

marched on point, John Lewis by his

side; 25 years old.

Almost 100 years

after Confederacy’s 

surrender, but in

1965 the

Klan was strong, and racism was

rampant, raw, and cruel.

600 marchers poured

into the street, with 54

miles to the capital.

At the bend, they could

see the bridge, named after

Edmund Pettus, who

was a Confederate

general, a Grand Wizard

of the Ku Klux Klan,

later becoming an

Alabama senator;

considered a hero.

The marchers strained

climbing the face of the bridge;

once at the crest, they

clearly saw hundreds of

“Bama state troopers stretched

50 deep across the street.

Then the crack of a 

whip as troopers charged right at

the helpless marchers.

On horseback, with dogs,

armed with clubs, whips, and tear gas

they ran over the crowd.

John Lewis tried to cover

a fallen woman, and had

his skull cracked for it.

Almost every year

there is a reenactment,

minus the violence.

Over 50 years later,

John Lewis passed on at 80.

Trump refused to pay

his respects as Lewis

lie in state; once again he’s

shown his true nature.

Lewis was given

six days of honors, starting with

doing the march itself.

The caisson rolled so

slowly, with John Lewis aboard,

taking his last ride.

Two black horses pulled the

wagon; our grand flag draped tight

over the casket.

One more time, oh God,

one more time, before the bridge

is renamed for Lewis.

Glenn Buttkus

Haiku sequencing

Posted over at d'Verse Poets Pub