Philly Commissioner Omar Sabir will march this weekend alongside U.S Vice-President, Kamala Harris and other dignitaries on Edmund Pettus Bridge (Selma, Alabama) to commemorate the 57th Anniversary of ‘Bloody Sunday’.
What happened on March 7, 1965 represented a key moment for the civil rights movement.
The facts
That day, about 525 African American demonstrators gathered at Browns Chapel to demand the right to vote. They walked six blocks to Broad Street, then across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where they were met by more than 50 state troopers and a few dozen postmen on horseback.
When the demonstrators refused to turn back, they were brutally beaten. The historical event was labeled as the ‘Bloody Sunday’.
“Voting rights are fundamental to our democracy and should be expansive, not restrictive,” said Commissioner Sabir.
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Sabir will also be a panelist for the Selma Workshop titled “We’ll Rise Up! Restoring the Right to Vote,” on Saturday, March 5th, 4:00-5:30 PM CST at the Earl Goodwin Auditorium, Wallace Community College.
About the Commisioner
Omar Sabir was elected as City Commissioner of the County of Philadelphia on November 5, 2019.
Prior to his election, Sabir focused his career on community advocacy. He served as a senior staffer in the Office of Pennsylvania State Senator Vincent Hughes and held senior roles at the Nathaniel Sabir Memorial Scholarship Fund, Citizens for State Representative Louise Williams Bishop, and the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania, according to the Philadelphia City Commissioners website.
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