“What Pegman saw” is a weekly challenge based on Google Streetview. You can read the rules here. You can find today’s location on this page, from where you can also get the Inlinkz code. This week’s location is Selma, Alabama.
Edmund Pettus Bridge, Selma, AL | Google Maps
Bloody Sunday
The march was meant to be non-violent.
There was anger, yes, and not surprisingly, with Jimmie Lee Jackson shot dead by a trooper a few weeks earlier, but we were peaceful. Six hundred strong, we walked slowly to Edmund Pettus bridge. I wriggled and jostled to the front to be close to my heroine Amelia Boynton.
The troopers were waiting, in heavy coats and gas-masks, billy clubs in hand.
We stopped. Sirens began wailing.
The troopers came on. They knocked people down and trampled on them, arms, legs, faces. Their horses converged on us. A mounted man struck Amelia viciously on her head, and she dropped, almost under the horse’s hooves. I went down and everything went black.
I woke up in the Good Samaritan Hospital, with a very sore head and burns from tear gas. And in the next bed was Amelia.
“How are you, child?” she asked.
Autumn Leaves 
Love how this tale puts a human face and cost on the conflict. The gentle way you took the time to reveal what the characters love and value makes it all the more moving.
I got a chill at “We stopped. Sirens began wailing.” I could see, hear, and feel the dread.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Karen
Thank you for reading and for your kind comments. It was a good prompt you gave us – thank you!
With very best wishes
Penny
LikeLike
Thank you for this humanizing, real-making, facts-that-matter story. I know people who were there. They describe it as you had. Thank you.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Na’ama
Thank you for reading and for your kind comments. I watched video footage of the events, and they were horrifying. It’s astonishing that nobody died on that day (there were deaths on other occasions, of course).
With very best wishes
Penny
LikeLiked by 1 person
Indeed it was horrifying, not the least of it in the insufficient outrage at the time (and some apathy since by those who still minimize or try to color a peaceful march as something else). And, yes, too many died. Then, and since. By those who hate, by those who fear equality, by those who rule by force, not peace or love or humanity or justice or a moral compass.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Really well done, Penny. Vivid. I like the cinematic style of this piece.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Josh
Thank you for reading and for your kind comment. I’m glad you liked the cinematic style.
With very best wishes
Penny
LikeLike
Heart wrenching, Penny. Love the Good Samaritan Hospital, and that Ameila was more focussed on the next bed than her own. A true Good Samaritan. 😎
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Kelvin
Thank you for reading and commenting so kindly. I’m glad you liked that Amelia was focussed on other people rather than her own serious and painful injuries. I suspect she was like that in real life.
With very best wishes
Penny
LikeLike
I am sure too.
LikeLiked by 1 person