SELMA, Ala. — Charles Mauldin was near the front of a line of voting rights marchers walking in pairs across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama on March 7, 1965.
From left, U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-NY, U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., Rev. Al Sharpton, Rev. Jesse Jackson and NAACP President Derick Johnson march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge during the 60th anniversary of the march to ensure that African Americans could exercise their constitutional right to vote, Sunday in Selma, Ala.
The marchers were protesting white officials’ refusal to allow Black Alabamians to register to vote, as well as the killing days earlier of Jimmie Lee Jackson, a minister and voting rights organizer who was shot by a state trooper in nearby Marion.
At the apex of the span over the Alabama River, they saw what awaited them: a line of state troopers, deputies and men on horseback. They kept going. After they approached, law enforcement gave a two-minute warning to disperse and then unleashed violence.
“Within about a minute or a half, they took their billy clubs, holding it on both ends, began to push us back to back us in, and then they began to beat men, women and children, and tear gas men, women and children, and cattle prod men, women and children viciously,†said Mauldin, who was 17 at the time.
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Selma on Sunday marked the 60th anniversary of the clash that became known as Bloody Sunday. The attack shocked the nation and galvanized support for the U.S. Voting Rights Act of 1965. The annual commemoration pays homage to those who fought to secure voting rights for Black Americans and brought calls to recommit to the fight for equality.
For those gathered in Selma, the celebration comes amid concerns about new voting restrictions and the Trump administration’s effort to remake federal agencies they said helped make America a democracy for all.
The foot soldiers are helped across the Edmund Pettus bridge during the 60th anniversary of the march to ensure that African Americans could exercise their constitutional right to vote, Sunday in Selma, Ala.
Speaking at the pulpit of the city’s historic Tabernacle Baptist Church, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said what happened in Selma changed the nation. He said the 60th anniversary comes at a time when there is “trouble all around†and some “want to whitewash our history.†But he said like the marchers of Bloody Sunday, they must keep going.
“At this moment, faced with trouble on every side, we’ve got to press on,†Jeffries said to the crowd that included the Rev. Jesse Jackson, multiple members of Congress and others gathered for the commemoration.
Members of Congress joined with Bloody Sunday marchers to lead a march of several thousand people across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. They stopped to pray at the site where marchers were beaten in 1965.
“We gather here on the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday when our country is in chaos,†said U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell of Alabama.
Sewell, a Selma native, noted the number of voting restrictions introduced since the U.S. Supreme Court effectively abolished a key part of the Voting Rights Act that required jurisdictions with a history of racial discrimination to clear new voting laws with the Justice Department. Other speakers noted the Trump administration’s push to end diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and a rollback of equal opportunity executive orders that have been on the books since the 1960s.
In 1965, the Bloody Sunday marchers led by John Lewis and Hosea Williams walked in pairs across the Selma bridge headed toward Montgomery.
“We had steeled our nerves to a point where we were so determined that we were willing to confront. It was past being courageous. We were determined, and we were indignant,†Mauldin recalled.
People march to the Edmund Pettus bridge during the 60th anniversary of the march to ensure that African Americans could exercise their constitutional right to vote, Sunday in Selma, Ala.Ìý
He said the “country was not a democracy for Black folks†until voting rights. “And we’re still constantly fighting to make that a more concrete reality for ourselves.â€
Kirk Carrington was just 13 on Bloody Sunday and was chased through the city by a man on a horse wielding a stick. “When we started marching, we did not know the impact we would have in America,†he said.
Dr. Verdell Lett Dawson, who grew up in Selma, remembers a time when she was expected to lower her gaze if she passed a white person on the street to avoid making eye contact.
Dawson and Mauldin said they are concerned about the potential dismantling of the Department of Education and other changes to federal agencies.
Support from the federal government “is how Black Americans have been able to get justice, to get some semblance of equality, because left to states’ rights, it is going to be the white majority that’s going to rule,†Dawson said.
“That that’s a tragedy of 60 years later: what we are looking at now is a return to the 1950s,†Dawson said.
New studies show how Black LGBTQ+ youth navigate discrimination. Advocates are mapping out ways to help
New studies show how Black LGBTQ+ youth navigate discrimination. Advocates are mapping out ways to help
Twenty-one percent of Black trans, nonbinary and questioning youth have made a suicide attempt in the last year, nearly half said they felt unsafe at school, and 64 percent said they had encountered transphobia, according to two recent reports that advocates say should serve as a call to action for LGBTQ+ communities. takes a closer look at these reports.
At the end of February, The Trevor Project, an LGBTQ+ youth crisis organization, on the mental health of Black LGBTQ+ youth. The report pulls together responses from more than 1,500 kids who were part of its larger 2023 survey that examined mental health among queer youth.Ìý
Several days later, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the country's largest LGBTQ+ advocacy organization, on how LGBTQ+ Black youth are navigating relationships in their lives as they come out.Ìý
Both reports detail the challenges Black LGBTQ+ youth face, and Derrick Matthews, director of research and science at the Trevor Project, said they offer important information on how to support youth.
"I know a lot of folks are really stepping up to the plate to work with Black LGBTQ+ youth, and I really hope, if it wasn't already, this puts on their radar screen the importance of helping people deal with the effects of multiple types of discrimination," Matthews said.
While both reports highlight treacherous odds facing Black queer kids presently, they have also started to lay down a roadmap for a different future. The findings have advocates thinking and strategizing on new ways to help Black queer youth. Matthews thinks the difference comes down to community.
"We live in a very racialized society," he said. "Folks largely grow up around people of a similar race to them. But we can't necessarily say the same is true for folks who are not heterosexual, or are transgender or nonbinary or questioning."
Matthews' theory is backed by past studies. could dramatically cut a young Black queer person's suicide risk. While the recent report showed that transphobia and homophobia put kids at risk of suicide, racism alone did not.
"Although over half (55 percent) of all Black LGBTQ+ young people in our sample reported experiencing racial discrimination in the past year, we did not find any association with experiences of racial discrimination and suicide attempts," .Ìý
"That was certainly surprising for me, given that there's a lot of literature that links experiences of racial discrimination, to all sorts of poor mental health outcomes," Matthews said.Ìý
The HRC study showed that while most young people have LGBTQ+ supportive friends, many lack supportive adults. While 82 percent reported they were out to at least someone in their immediate family, 59 percent said they had experienced some form of rejection from their parents. Only 58 percent of students were out to their teachers or school staff.Ìý
"This report reinforces the unfortunate disposition of many Black LGBTQ+ students," said Chauna Lawson, the HBCU (Historically Black College and University) program associate director for HRC. "They are challenged with navigating racism within LGBTQ+ spaces while simultaneously being met with homophobia and transphobia within the Black community."
Nearly half (49 percent) of Black trans youth said they felt unsafe at school. Fifty-eight percent reported experiencing racism, and 64 percent said they had encountered transphobia.
Advocates say that a near-constant flood of anti-LGBTQ+ bills in state legislatures the past four years has poisoned the climate on many middle school and high school campuses where queer youth have been reporting increasing rates of harassment. Last month, nonbinary 16-year-old after a confrontation with older students, allegedly following anti-transgender bullying.
The American Civil Liberties Union says it is tracking at least .Ìý
Experts say that supporting Black queer youth means creating safe spaces that embrace them fully. They want non-LGBTQ+ organizations to become more welcoming and for LGBTQ+ organizations to address barriers around race that make it difficult for kids of color to use their services.
"I think this is also especially a call to action for faith communities to double down on things like supporting Black queer youth in their communities and making sure that they feel safe and included," said Charleigh Flohr, associate director of public education and research at the HRC Foundation.
Ka'Riel Gaiter, director of services for the Chicago-based LGBTQ+ nonprofit Youth Empowerment Performance Project, said safe spaces for very vulnerable queer youth in their city increasingly enforce rules that sometimes make it hard for kids to access services — like requiring IDs for entry. IDs can prove to be unattainable for youth who haven't been able to update their names or gender markers or who are experiencing homelessness.
"I see them experience discrimination on a systemic level," Gaiter said. "There are no specific spaces anymore that are implementing harm reduction methods and trauma-informed methods of care that will actually meet these people where they are when they walk through their doors to receive services."
Despite facing intersecting discrimination, the youth in the HRC report expressed resiliency and pride, Flohr said, citing a finding that 97 percent of Black queer youth are out to other LGBTQ+ peers.
"Despite high levels of bullying, despite experiencing rejection from people, most if not almost all Black LGBTQ youth are proud of their queer identities." Flohr said. "It shows a tremendous amount of strength and resiliency that I think everyone can learn from."
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was produced by and reviewed and distributed by Stacker Media.
New studies show how Black LGBTQ+ youth navigate discrimination. Advocates are mapping out ways to help
