Picking up from last week, maybe the Eugene City Hall windows would not have been kicked in if there were some sort of coherent plan.
https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2025/07/forms-of-direct-action-rallies.html
I should also point out that because of the March comics and Selma, I can't write about marching without missing John Lewis. If I write about running for office, I will feel worse that he did not end up finishing the Run series.
Perhaps because of that it makes sense to start with the Selma to Montgomery marches.
The poll taxes and literacy tests that prevented most Black people in Alabama from even registering to vote had been on the books for several years. One thing we see in the movie Selma is Annie Lee Cooper failing the literacy test because the clerk administering it keeps adding harder questions until he finds that she has not in fact memorized the names of every person serving in one certain capacity.
That is probably a big part of the march happening then. Cooper had been living in Pennsylvania but had returned to Alabama in 1962, and was denied voter registration twice. As she became involved with local activists, her perspective may have helped show this was an area for action.
Selma was the seat of Dallas County, so important for local government and voting. Montgomery was the state capital, so a reasonable place for an appeal. Also the two were 54 miles apart along a highway. That meant that cars could be used for ferrying supplies and relieving some walkers.
That might seem like too far to walk, but distance varies a lot. The United Farm Workers march from Delano to Sacramento (a state capital again) was around three hundred miles. The Constitution Express, a movement for Aboriginal rights in Canada, went from Vancouver BC to Ottawa, around 2700 miles.
For the March on Washington, we think of the people filling the National Mall, not marching so much, but people had come from all over. Many of them had chosen significant locations for their start, like boarding buses in Kelly Ingram Park in Birmingham, just four months after state troopers attacked protesters there with dogs and fire hoses.
That's one thing to get clear, a march can involve cars, buses, trains and even planes. It's all going to depend on whom is affected and will participate, where it makes sense to start and where it makes sense to finish.
In the case of the Constitution Express, the Canadian government under Trudeau was going to set up a new constitution that still made guarantees for the rights of the French, but looked only at the English and French settlers, eliminating all protections and considerations of First Nations, Metis, and Inuit.
As something that would affect such a wide range of people, it made sense that it was a trans-Canadian journey that would end in the national capital. With that in mind... well, it didn't necessarily make planning easy, but the parameters were clear.
Having clear goals helps. One reasonable criticism of the March on Washington was that it had too many goals, including legislation related to (and enforcement of) voting rights, job training and a minimum wage increase, along with extension of the Fair Labor Standards Act, and also an end to school segregation, which had been ruled against nine years earlier but was somehow still ongoing.
I know I harp on clear goals, but I have a lot of sympathy for this one. The more you realize the issues with racism, the more you see economic effects. The more you look at the economy and worker issues, the more you notice how bigotry enforces it.
Moreover, uphill battles remain after the successes. The Civil Rights Act did get passed after the March on Washington and the Voting Rights Act got passed after the Selma to Montgomery Marches, and there have been constant challenges and continued attempts to suppress.
The forces of dominator culture fight hard, which means that those fighting against it need to be persistent. To prevent exhaustion, good planning can help.
If you think a march is the answer -- and it can be a good way to bring attention to an issue, especially if there are clear decision makers you can approach as part of it -- think about the route. Think about visibility. Think about what success would look like.
The best plans may still require flexibility. The Selma to Montgomery March had two attempts before its final completion. One resulted in a lot of injuries; John Lewis could tell you.
The first two attempts were not useless. They brought attention to the cause and more participation, until on that final attempt it was a movement that could not be stopped.
Part of that momentum included the murders of Jimmie Lee Jackson and James Reeb. Part of that momentum included inspiring Viola Liuzzo to participate, and she was murdered while helping drive people back.
Those are things to think about too, but there are things that are worth suffering for, and even dying for.
The odds of injury and death sure seem to go up if you are fighting racism in the South.
Just things to think about.
Related posts:
https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2013/12/comics-review-march-and-montgomery-story.html
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