LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — As communities all around the country remember the Bloody Sunday march in Selma, community members made their way from Las Vegas to North Las Vegas, holding their own Selma march Sunday.
“Vote, vote, vote.”
A vocal call to action as community members marched down Martin Luther King Boulevard in Las Vegas, holding signs as they re-enacted the Bloody Sunday Selma march of the civil rights movement.
“I think it’s important for us to remember that sometimes you get knocked down, but you got to keep pressing on,” Veleta Pasley, who lives in Summerlin, said.
The 1965 march was the catalyst that lead to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibiting racial discrimination in voting. It’s a right these marchers intend to continue fighting for.
“it’s so important that everybody knows that voting is a right, not a privilege and everybody needs to know their vote counts,” Nedra Cooper of Delta Sigma Theta said.
Around 200 people took part in the march, organized by the Delta Sigma Theta Incorporated alumnae chapter in Las Vegas. It was the first time it’s been held in the valley and it ran in conjunction with the march in Selma.
“It’s very special with our history, and what has happened, and what’s currently going on in America today,” Pasley said.
The marchers carried signs meant to highlight the importance of voting and getting counted for the upcoming census.
“I have a daughter and she needs to see her mom and so she needs to see her mom, and she needs to see her community standing up and looking for her, working hard for her and her future as well,” Pasley said.
