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U.S. NEWS Saturday 25 February 2017

American Living:

Black marchers, white re-enactors find common foe in Selma

Associated Press sistance as usual until the
SELMA, Ala. (AP) — The climactic final day, when
mayor of Selma refused thousands typically gather
to back down Friday in a to walk across the bridge.
fight that has united un- That means plans for three
likely allies — black civil days of street concerts,
rights marchers and white vendors and other events
Civil War re-enactors who are uncertain.
refuse to pay thousands in On Friday, Melton again
fees to hold their events. said that people will be
Both groups say the city free again to march. But
is squeezing them with he questioned why the city
demands for thousands should have to pay for oth-
of dollars in up-front pay- er related events.
ments to stage annual “People marched and
events that bring tens of they bled on that bridge.
thousands of visitors to an They weren’t marching
otherwise sleepy commu- for commercial purposes,
nity where unemployment to commercialize off the
is high and boarded-up In this Sunday, March 8, 2015, photo, a large crowd moves in a symbolic walk across the Edmund event. They were marching
homes and businesses are Pettus Bridge, in Selma, Ala., to mark the 50th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday,” a civil rights march for voting rights,” Melton
a common sight. in which protestors were beaten, trampled and tear-gassed by police at the bridge. Organizers of said.
Plans for next month’s Sel- the annual civil rights celebration and organizers of a Civil War battle re-enactment are upset the The city offered to lower
ma Bridge Crossing Jubi- city is asking them to pay tens of thousands of dollars to cover the costs of police and fire protec- the bill Friday from nearly
lee, which commemorates tion and cleanup. $24,000 to $17,000, but or-
the Selma-to-Montgom- (AP Photo/Butch Dill) ganizers refused: “That is
ery voting rights march of not reasonable consider-
1965, are up in the air over people, about 80 percent won’t pay the demanded tories won in 1965,” Sanders ing what this event does
the city’s demand. And of them black — said with fee. The event in part re- wrote in an opinion piece for the city,” Faya Rose
the re-enactment of the a chuckle Thursday. calls Bloody Sunday, when in The Selma Times-Journal. Toure said.
1865 Battle of Selma, in- State Sen. Hank Sanders, black marchers were beat- Sanders and his wife head A few weeks ago, organiz-
volving hundreds of history a black Selma Democrat, en by white police at the the group that organizes ers of the far-smaller Battle
buffs in Civil War garb, has said organizers of the four- Edmund Pettus Bridge. the jubilee. of Selma re-enactment
been canceled because day Bridge Crossing Ju- “We will not pay in 2017 to But the city says that with- canceled over a similar
organizers couldn’t afford bilee still plan to hold the commemorate sacrifices out the payment, it won’t demand for $22,054 from
the tab. celebration March 2-5 but made and celebrate vic- close streets or provide as- City Hall. q
The jubilee draws mostly
black people, the bat-
tle re-enactment mostly Grad students vote to unionize at Yale University
white people. So now,
two groups with different
interests and membership NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — said. Students in the physics face.” among graduate students,
rosters are united in being Graduate students from a department voted against The NLRB found last August noting the union lost in one
upset with Mayor Darrio half-dozen departments at it. In the departments of that graduate assistants of its hand-picked depart-
Melton and other leaders Yale University have voted East Asian languages and who assist in teaching and ments.
who say the city can’t af- to form unions, setting up political science, a major- research at private univer- “The slim margins of victory
ford the police overtime, negotiations for contracts ity went for unionization, sities are employees and and very low vote counts
fire protection and clean- with the Ivy League school. but ballots were still to be have a right to union rep- in many departments only
up the events require. The National Labor Rela- counted. resentation. Yale organizers underscore the concerns
For a change in Selma, tions Board administered “This moment has been de- filed their petitions within a many have voiced that a
where race sometimes elections Thursday for cades in the making,” said week of the ruling. small number of students
seems like a factor in ev- graduate students in nine Local 33-UNITE HERE chair- Local 33-UNITE HERE had could be in the position to
erything, something isn’t departments. man Aaron Greenberg, a the NLRB’s approval to hold decide such an important
solely black and white. Students from the depart- graduate student in po- elections for individual de- question for everyone,” she
“Maybe we’ve been able ments of English, geology litical science. “Tonight is a partments, despite objec- said.
to bring two opposing sides and geophysics, history, tremendous victory and an tions from the university. The Yale organizers say they
together for a month,” the history of art, math, and opportunity for all of us to Yale Graduate School believe a union would help
first-term mayor of Selma sociology voted in favor come together and work Dean Lynn Cooley said address concerns surround-
— a city of around 20,000 of unionization, organizers to address the issues we the results reflect division ing pay and benefits.q