I could not believe my ears. I know I’m getting old with my 73rd birthday is coming up this year, and sometimes we don’t hear as well in our latter years. I doubted what I heard because I just could not believe my ears.

A reporter, Mary Orndoff Troyan, of Washington, D.C. called.  She had talked with Congressman John Lewis (D-GA). She asked me questions about Bloody Sunday, the Bridge Crossing Jubilee and Faith and Politics Institute. Then she told me something that Lewis had said and solicited my response. That’s when I first doubted my ears. I asked her about his statement to make sure. I just could not believe my ears.

The reporter told me that Lewis said that Faith and Politics Institute asked the President to come on Saturday instead of Bloody Sunday because some national leaders had made the Bloody Sunday March undignified by trying to get on the front lines. She said that he did not name any of these national leaders. Of course, Bloody Sunday has been commemorated on Sunday for 40-plus years without exception. I could not believe my ears.

There have been so much behind-the-scenes challenges with faith and politics over the years that I have not addressed. Now that Lewis has raised an issue publicly, I believe I must address that issue and related concerns.

One national leader had previously told me that Faith and Politics had tried to stop him and his wife from getting on the front lines of the Bloody Sunday March last year. When they got on the front line anyway, John Lewis pointed his finger and said, “I want you to understand that this will not happen again. Next year I’ll find a different venue.” I understand that Lewis also said to others that he was never coming back to Selma on Bloody Sunday. He said that the Rev. Jesse Jackson embarrassed him by taking up a collection at Brown Chapel Church at the request of the pastor and asked each congressperson for a $1,000 donation for the church. I could not believe my ears.

I told Mary Orndorff that Faya Rose and I have never tried to get on the front lines in all these 40-plus years. I was on the front line just a few times over these 40-plus years at the insistence of other leaders. Faya Rose was on the front line a handful of times at the insistence of other leaders. In fact, in 2000 on the 35th Anniversary, President Bill Clinton insisted that she march with him.

We have insisted that some of those who were actually on the bridge in 1965 be included among the front lines with Faith and Politics and other leaders. Faith and Politics members do not seem to care about those whose blood made Bloody Sunday sacred. They only care about those who have high office or great status. To them, status is more important than sacrifice or bloodshed.

The leader who told me that John Lewis pointed his finger is Charles Steele, the National President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. SCLC has co-sponsored the Bloody Sunday March and related commemoration activities since the 1970s. Moreover, SCLC was the sole sponsor of the 1965 Bloody Sunday March. I believe any SCLC president certainly has a right to be on the front lines of every Bloody Sunday March.

When the March occurred in Selma in 1965, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee leaders such as Bernard Lafayette had been in Selma a couple of years before SCLC came. John Lewis was a former chairman of SNCC. He was asked to march on the front line with SCLC leader Hosea Williams on Bloody Sunday. I could not believe my ears.

The reporter also asked me about the role of Faith and Politics in actually sponsoring the Bloody Sunday March. I said that they have never sponsored the Bloody Sunday March. They have never organized a single thing but have just shown up. They never urged anyone to come outside of their own delegation. They never paid for even a rented chair or porto-toilet or water or anything else. They have never secured a single person to be a marshal or do anything else.

Faith and Politics Institute raises millions of dollars based on the Bloody Sunday March and the Bridge Crossing Jubilee but has never contributed a single dime. Then they just show up and claim privilege. It’s a shame that Faith and Politics decided to have a separate event from the sacred Bloody Sunday March because of disagreements over who should be on the front lines of the March. I cannot believe my ears, my eyes, my senses.

I also told the reporter that many Civil Rights leaders come every year. To them, it is a pilgrimage to share a holy moment at a sacred place and not just a status visit. The Rev. Jesse Jackson has been coming almost every year since the 1970s. The presidents of SCLC have been here every single year, and SCLC has co-sponsored the march every year as well. I could not believe my ears, my eyes, my senses.

The reporter then asked me about the large number of republicans coming to the Bridge Crossing Jubilee this year. I said that we welcome everyone to this sacred commemoration: republicans, democrats and independents; those in office and those without office or position; the rich, the poor, the big, the little; people of all faiths, whether Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Jewish, Buddhist, etc.

I tried to say that I hope and pray that the sacred spirit of Bloody Sunday will touch all who come, converting them into strong supporters of restoring the Voting Rights Act in full and protecting the right to vote so that the Founding Fathers’ vision of “a more perfect union” becomes a reality. I also hope and pray that the sacred spirit of Bloody Sunday spreads across the country, touching every soul and every spirit, so that we all protect and expand voting rights rather than restrict, suppress and deny voting rights. This is what I want my eyes, my ears, my senses and my spirit to believe.

There are things we talk about but are very reluctant to write about.

However, when the door is opened by others, we sometimes have no real choice. That is the case with Faith and Politics Institute and the Bridge Crossing Jubilee.