On March 9, surrounded by thousands of marchers, my children and I walked hand-in-hand over the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, as the crowd sang “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round,” voices ringing over the site where civil-rights leaders were brutally beaten for advocating for voting rights on what is now known as “Bloody Sunday.”
The next day, my daughter, Ida Luna, stood hand-in-hand with movement elder Paulette Porter Roby in Birmingham. Ms. Roby told Ida about how she had marched at age 13—only two years older than Ida is now—when the Birmingham police attacked them with water cannons and dogs, and she told us about losing friends in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. She urged Ida Luna and my 8-year-old, Rio, to keep learning, to do their part so that this legacy and what was achieved after these deaths is not lost.
In times like now, when the history of movements for justice is actively suppressed and when white supremacist movements are on the rise, I believe it’s vital that our children learn these histories and feel a responsibility to push back against the lies racist movements rely on. I want to offer some perspective, as an Alaskan parent, on why and how we can do this…