Free Republic

Civil right leader Rev. Jesse Jackson paid enormous tribute to the late Martin McGuinness this week in a rousing speech to open the Museum of Free Derry. Comparing the Derryman, who died earlier this year after a short illness, to the likes of Martin Luther King Jr and Nelson Mandela, the activist laid a wreath at the Sinn Féin leader’s grave, meeting with other members of the political party to pay tribute. “It was a great honor to welcome the Rev. Jesse Jackson to Derry today, as he laid a wreath at the grave of Martin McGuinness, accompanied by Martin’s...

A former soldier has been arrested by detectives investigating the events of Bloody Sunday in Londonderry. Thirteen people were killed when British paratroopers opened fire on a civil rights march through the city in January 1972. A fourteenth died later. The 66-year-old is a former member of the Parachute Regiment. He was detained in County Antrim on Tuesday by the PSNI's Legacy Investigation Branch. He is the first person to be arrested as part of the investigation.

Mark Levin explains what the 1965 “Bloody Sunday” Selma march and Civil Rights Movement was NOT about (and what it predictably was turned into last weekend).

The 50th Anniversary of the Bloody Sunday march was held in Selma, Alabama on Saturday. The New York Times cropped out the George and Laura Bush. Discrimination still exists in America. MRC reported:

Today, the President will commemorate the hundreds of people brutally attacked on a bridge in Selma 50 years ago during a peaceful protest for racial equality. But just this week, a billboard was erected within sight of the historic location in memory of a Ku Klux Klan founder Nathan Bedford Forrest. It has prompted outrage in the Alabama city as many claim it demonstrates underlying racial tensions that linger half a century after the march. The sign, bearing a portrait of Forrest on horseback and a Confederate flag, stands at the foot of Edmund Pettus Bridge - which is named...

US President Barack Obama is due to take part in events celebrating the 50th anniversary of a landmark civil rights march in Selma, Alabama. He will deliver a speech to mark "Bloody Sunday" in March 1965, when security forces attacked demonstrators. His wife Michelle and about 100 members of Congress are also due to attend. Afterwards Mr Obama and his wife Michelle will join marchers in a recreation of a walk on a bridge that was severely repressed. Police beat and used tear gas on demonstrators at the foot of Edmund Pettus Bridge on 7 March, 1965.

A Conservative MP who served as a soldier in Northern Ireland has questioned the need for prosecutions in the Bloody Sunday killings. On Thursday, it was revealed that a team of 15 detectives will head up a murder investigation into the 1972 shootings. They will be led by a senior investigating officer who will be based in Londonderry. Patrick Mercer said he is “confused” by this latest development and does not know what prosecutions will achieve. …

"Car bomb explodes in Derry" IRISH TIMES REPORTERS SNIPPET: "A car bomb has exploded outside a police station in the North. The blast occurred at about 3.20am in a taxi which had been parked outside Strand Road police station in Derry. Damage was caused to the station and the perimeter wall but no one was injured in the incident. The explosion follows a telephone warning that a device had been planted in front of the station. According to the PSNI, a taxi driver was approached by two men on Cook Street at about 3am, one of whom had a gun....

In 1972, 470 people died in the violent sectarian unrest which dominated Northern Ireland, including 13 people who died on Bloody Sunday when the army opened fire on unarmed civil rights marchers. Some 14 others were injured that day, one of whom later died.

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/statement-president-obama-45th-anniversary-march-selma-montgomery Home • Briefing Room • Statements & Releases The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release March 07, 2010 Statement by President Obama on the 45th Anniversary of the March from Selma-to-Montgomery On this day, 45 years ago, hundreds of brave men and women gathered in the small town of Selma, Alabama to announce to the world that they, too, sang America. As they marched from Selma to Montgomery, fully aware of the danger that lay ahead, these heroes let their feet speak in a way that their voices...

On March 4, 2007, at the 42nd Anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama, Mrs. Clinton recounted how as a young girl she had the great privilege of hearing Dr. Martin Luther King speak in Chicago: “ The year was 1963”, Clinton said in her speech. “My youth minister from our church took a few of us down on a cold January night to hear someone that we had read about, we had watched on television, we had seen with our own eyes from a distance, this phenomenon known as Dr. King.At Selma, Hillary said she had seen MLK in...