This op-ed was first published in Tampa Bay Times.
This month marks the 60th anniversary of the historic march from Selma to Montgomery, capping the struggle to pass the Voting Rights Act.
It was the apex of the civil rights movement — fueled largely by the unimaginable courage of young people, from lunch counter sit-ins in Greensboro to the Children’s Crusade in Birmingham to the Freedom Rides to Mississippi Freedom Summer to Selma.
I was so inspired by the moral leadership of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the bravery of those in the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee that when we received the telegram from Dr. King at my college’s student government office pleading for volunteers, my two closest friends and I boarded a bus to Selma.
Student government expertise with messy mimeograph machines (remember that technology?) got me assigned to the office at Brown Chapel to assist Rev. Andrew Young, King’s lieutenant for the planned 54-mile march to confront then-Gov. George Wallace at the Capitol in Montgomery.
The national response to the march and the shocking murder of Viola Liuzzo, the Detroit mother of five who also came to Selma to volunteer, and other murderous violence by the Klan helped secure passage of the Voting Rights Act.
The inspiration of Selma 60 years ago stayed with me, leading to a 45-year career as director of two state American Civil Liberties Union affiliates fighting for civil liberties and especially voting rights.
Sixty years later, we are now witnessing the apex of the anti-human rights backlash, heard in President Donald Trump’s absurd claim, echoed by acolytes like Gov. Ron DeSantis, that DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) is the source of all social ills.
This attitude has roots in resentment over the 1964 Civil Rights Act’s requirement of equal accommodations and the cartoonish characterization of affirmative action as a mandate to hire unqualified minorities over more qualified white candidates. The personification of this movement seems to be Archie Bunker, the sitcom character from All in the Family.
The current hostility to human rights is also aimed at reproductive freedom, essential for women’s equality. Unfortunately, we have yet to see that apex. Same story with regard to demonizing immigrants.
And then there is the disgusting assault on transgender youth, supported by the belief that there are no non-binary persons, and that gender dysphoria does not exist. It is, they claim, a political ideology to be shunned, therefore legitimizing discrimination against trans people.
Presumably, if DeSantis watches Jeopardy, he doesn’t see champion Amy Schneider display brilliance; he sees an activist advancing a political ideology. This is reminiscent of how, decades ago, some insisted on referring to gay men and lesbians as having a sexual “preference.”
And what should we make of the backlash’s obsession with drag? Recall that DeSantis vetoed budget allocations for all arts programming (symphonies, theaters, museums, etc.) because he heard about two drag performances in Orlando.
Apparently, the governor never appreciated Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro or laughed at Billy Wilder’s Some Like It Hot or was touched by the love story of La Cage aux Folles by Florida’s Jerry Herman.
Eventually, folks will catch on to the many cons that bolster the backlash:
- “We will end voter fraud and restore election integrity.” This is cover for “we can cling to power by making it difficult for the ‘wrong’ people to vote.”
- “We will restore a merit-based system.” Anyone notice the qualifications of Trump’s cabinet appointees?
- “We will be true defenders of free speech,” but we are OK removing books from library shelves and restricting university discussions about Black history.
- “We will restore sanity to our educational system.” Meaning we will replace curriculums we dislike with our propaganda.
It is naïve to take it for granted that our democracy can’t be disassembled. Study what happened in Viktor Orban’s Hungary. That’s the model leaders of the backlash have in mind for the U.S.
An authoritarian right-wing populist won power in a democratic election and then consolidated control over the judiciary, the universities, the media, and other centers of dissent. Elections are manipulated to give the illusion of democracy.
Democracy needs defending. This generation has a rendezvous to cross its Edmund Pettus Bridge. Let them take inspiration from the courage and humility of leaders like the late John Lewis, a hero of Selma, rather than the arrogance and historical blindness of Vice President J.D. Vance.
Most of all, defending democracy depends on staying engaged — not retreating into silence and submission.
Howard L. Simon, Ph.D., served as executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida from 1997-2018. He is president of the Clean Okeechobee Waters Foundation.
