JoAnne Bland, founder of Journeys for the Soul tour company, was 11 years old when she crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge on March 7, 1965—a day that would come to be known as Bloody Sunday.
“To look at those kids out there trying to do what’s right and saying they’re not gonna take it anymore, brought back the memories of the ‘60s. And when police attacked, it really took me straight back to that bridge, straight back to that bridge. How could this happen? To still be happening 55 years later, how can it? … But [I pray that] those children don’t stop. Don’t stop ‘til they get it right. … I encourage them and I pray every day: Please don’t stop. Change will come if you keep their feet to the fire. Change will come.”
