This weekend, tens of thousands of people will make their way Selma to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday.
This means a lot a work for city workers to prepare for the crowds. James Benderson is the director of city planning and development for Selma. He says they have a lot of help.
“We have state police agencies, a lot of the local police municipalities within the area will be helping out. We have the national parks service helping out, so it’s a collaborative effort between a lot of different agencies making it work out for everybody.”
Political leaders including President Obama, former president George W. Bush and members of Congress are expected to be in Selma this weekend for the commemoration as well.
Montgomery will be hosting a musical world premiere tonight as they commemorate the Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights marches.
Composer Mohammed Fairouz wrote the piece, titled Deep Rivers. It's inspired by the end of the Civil War and the civil rights movement. It will be performed by the Grammy-nominated wind quintet Imani Winds and baritone vocalist Sidney Outlaw. Elements of the piece include reimaginings of negro spirituals and poetry by Langston Hughes.
Fairouz says premiering the work in Montgomery is a big deal.
“The overwhelming majority of world premieres happen in New York City. And the ones that aren’t happening in New York City happen in places like L.A. and Chicago. So having a world premiere happen in Montgomery, Alabama is an important thing and hopefully the beginning of a trend.”
The world premiere of Deep Rivers will be tonight at 8 PM at the Warehouse at Alley Station in downtown Montgomery.
Alabama was briefly one of 37 states to legalize same-sex marriage, but the state supreme court seems to have reversed that situation.
Alabama is the only state in the U.S. where state lawmakers have pushed back against federal district courts.
Alabama's Supreme Court justices say they'll respect the authority of the U.S. Supreme Court, but until they issue a ruling, the state court is in charge.
A same-sex couple in Mobile, Molly Daniel and April Sanders, planned to marry later this month. They will be requesting a marriage license this afternoon from Mobile County probate judge Don Davis today.
Davis is in a unique position. Unlike other probate judges, Davis is specifically bound by federal judge Callie Granade's order to keep issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Alabama's Supreme Court exempted him from their ruling. But Davis said recently that his office will refuse to issue any marriage licenses to same-sex couples until his legal counsel evaluates the situation.
As Alabama continues to debate same-sex marriage, some lawmakers want to protect judges, ministers and others who refuse to officiate or even recognize weddings that violate their religious beliefs.
The state House Judiciary Committee voted 9-4 yesterday to approve a bill that would do just that.
Lawmakers say they have gotten phone calls from ministers and probate judges who are concerned they will be forced to marry gay couples.
Opponents say the bill enshrines discrimination and could have much broader indirect effects.
The bill does not mention same-sex weddings specifically. It gives civil immunity to churches, ministers, society organizations and other religious affiliated groups for refusal to recognize, or solemnize, a marriage.
Susan Watson of the American Civil Liberties Union said this bill could allow a broad-range of discriminatory practices.
Lawmakers did not mention a timetable for the bill to appear on the House floor.