The civil rights activist approached the lectern and faced a silent crowd Saturday.
“The day we marched we had no idea we were going to get a beating,” he said.
Joe Jones marched with Martin Luther King Jr. from Selma to Montgomery in 1965 in the Bloody Sunday protest that resulted in 26 protesters being shot. He came to UF to participate in the Gator Law American Civil Liberties Union’s recreation of the march.
“Together we came up with the idea for the rally where we could give diverse student and community organizations a platform to speak out about the civil rights issues that are most important to them,” wrote Ben Silva, president of Gator Law ACLU, in an email.
Jones spoke about his experiences in the civil rights movement at the peace rally held after the event.
“When we got to the bridge,” he said, “that is when they threw tear gas on us…they beat us with hammers, whatever they had.”
Nadine Louis, a 21-year-old UF theatre junior, said she was there on behalf of LGBT Affairs to show support. She said she enjoyed seeing old and new faces and felt the diversity brought out a sense of humanity to the event.
Jones recounted the moment Amelia Boynton Robinson was nearly beaten to death by police officers, but she is currently living at 103 years old.
“The main thing is nonviolence,” Jones said. “If we would have fought back we wouldn’t have made it. Thank God we made it off the bridge.”
[A version of this story ran on page 5 on 3/23/2015 under the headline “Civil rights activist speaks at UF Law’s Selma recreation”]
