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    1965marchinNYC

    Selma, 1965

    The Unforgettable Funeral of Jimmie Lee Jackson

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    January 15, 2015

    Available languages: español

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    • Andy

      It is good that we, who are politically emancipated, and have free speech, are reminded of the sacrifices and mistreatment of the oppressed, who often go unnoticed among us. God was clearly there on the front line at Selma, protesting for the truth, and holding his followers together in his Spirit. I shall tell my grand children this story.

    • John M Sheehan

      Powerful is the message of freedom and its cost that we must never overlook as history does repeat itself and we must approach our past with open eyes so that we can see the future clearly

    This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Selma-to-Montgomery marches. Pastor Arnold had come south to support the Civil Rights struggle when he heard of the death of Jimmie Lee Jackson in Selma. In his book Why Forgive? he recounts the events surrounding Jackson's death and burial.

    In the spring of 1965 I marched with King in Marion, Alabama, and experienced firsthand his deep love and humility in the face of injustice. I was visiting the Tuskegee Institute with colleagues from New York when we heard about the death of Jimmie Lee Jackson, a young man who had been shot eight days earlier when a rally at a church in Marion was broken up by police. State troopers from all over central Alabama had converged on the town and beaten the protesters with clubs as they poured out onto the streets.

    Bystanders later described a scene of utter chaos: white onlookers smashed cameras and shot out street lights, while police officers brutally attacked black men and women, some of whom were kneeling and praying on the steps of their church.

    Jimmie’s crime was that he’d tackled a state trooper who was mercilessly beating his mother. His punishment: to be shot in the stomach and clubbed over the head until almost dead. Denied admission at the local hospital, he was taken to Selma, where he was able to tell his story to reporters. He died several days later.

    At the news of Jimmie’s death, we drove to Selma immediately. The viewing, at Brown Chapel, was open-casket, and although the mortician had done his best to cover his injuries, the wounds on Jimmie’s head could not be hidden: three murderous blows, each an inch wide and three inches long, ran above his ear, at the base of his skull, and on the top of his head.

    Deeply shaken, we attended a memorial service there. The room was packed with about three thousand people (many more stood outside), and we sat on a window sill at the back. We never heard one note of anger or revenge in the service. Instead, a spirit of courage emanated from the men and women of the congregation, especially as they rose to sing the old slave song, “Ain’t gonna let nobody turn me ’round.”

    Later, at a second service in Marion, the atmosphere was decidedly more subdued. Lining the veranda of the county court house across the street stood a long row of state troopers, hands on their night sticks, looking straight at us. These were the same men who had attacked Marion’s blacks only days before. The crowd of whites gathered at nearby City Hall was no less intimidating. Armed with binoculars and cameras, they scanned and photographed us so thoroughly that we felt every one of us had been marked.

    Afterwards, at the cemetery, King spoke about forgiveness and love. He pleaded with his people to pray for the police, to forgive the murderer, and to forgive those who were persecuting them. Then we held hands and sang, “We shall overcome.” It was an unforgettable moment. If there was ever cause for hatred or vengeance, it was here. But none was to be felt, not even from Jimmie’s parents.

    Selma to Montgomery marchers singing as they walk, 1965. Selma to Montgomery marchers singing, 1965. View the full image
    Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speaking to a crowd outside Browns chapel in Selma, Alabama, 1965. Dr. Martin Luther King addressing the crowd outside Brown Chapel, Selma, Alabama, 1965. View full image
    Contributed By JohannChristophArnold Johann Christoph Arnold

    A noted speaker and writer on marriage, parenting, education, and end-of-life issues, Arnold was a senior pastor of the Bruderhof, a movement of Christian communities.

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