By Blake Deshazo

The Selma Times-Journal 

Just days after the White House announced President Barack Obama’s intention to visit Selma in March to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery marches, some local officials have expressed concerns about the president’s plans.

On Tuesday, the White House announced that Obama would visit Selma on Saturday, March 7.

By visiting Selma on Saturday, Obama would miss the highlight of the annual Bridge Crossing Jubilee, when thousands of people march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge to commemorate the events of 1965.

A group of officials, which includes State Sen. Hank Sanders, has reached out to the White House about changing the president’s plans.

“We are always glad when the president comes, but Bloody Sunday is sacred,” Sanders said during a Friday news conference. “It’s sacred because of the blood that was spilled on that Sunday.”

A Friday press conference, Sanders said, wasn’t really about asking the president to change his plans. It was more about letting people know that plans haven’t changed for this year’s Bridge Crossing Jubilee.

“We were saying that the march was going ahead because a lot of people were thinking somehow the march was being canceled,” Sanders said.

The senator said he received phone calls from people that thought the march had been moved to Saturday.

The president’s scheduled visit for Saturday, March 7 would fall on the actual 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, when state troopers beat and gassed marchers.

Despite the president’s plans to visit Saturday, Sanders said the Jubilee march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge will still be held on Sunday.

Congresswoman Terri Sewell said Obama accepted a personal invitation from Rep. John Lewis to come to Selma on Saturday.

“Unfortunately, I do not have any control or influence over President Obama’s schedule,” Sewell said. “Ideally, I would want him to participate in all the festivities scheduled for the entire weekend.”

Despite Obama’s plans, which remain unchanged at this time, Sewell is pleased the president is coming to Selma to commemorate the 50th anniversary.

“Nevertheless, we should all be elated whenever a sitting president comes to our state,” Sewell said. “I am especially honored that President Obama would come to Selma for the 50th commemoration given the significance of the Voting Rights Act to his own presidential election.”

Rep. John Lewis, who at age 25 helped lead the Bloody Sunday march, expressed his excitement for the president’s visit to Selma.

“We are very grateful that President Obama will be able to participate in the 50th anniversary commemoration in Selma,” Lewis said. “It is fitting and appropriate that the president would join us, and I am delighted that he will be able to attend.”

The last time President Obama visited Selma was in 2007 when he was a presidential candidate.