In this June 25, 2016 photo, civil rights pioneer James Meredith, center, and others walk through downtown Jackson, Miss., to the state Capitol, as part of a 50th commemoration of his march from Memphis to Jackson to encourage black people to overcome a fear of violence and to encourage them to register to vote. Along the way, he was shot and wounded, causing several groups and hundreds of marchers, including the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., to take up the cause and help him finish the march to the Capitol. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
In this June 25, 2016 photo, civil rights pioneer James Meredith, center, and others walk through downtown Jackson, Miss., to the state Capitol, as part of a 50th commemoration of his march from Memphis to Jackson to encourage black people to overcome a fear of violence and to encourage them to register to vote. Along the way, he was shot and wounded, causing several groups and hundreds of marchers, including the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., to take up the cause and help him finish the march to the Capitol. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis) Credit: Rogelio V. Solis

A half-century ago, thousands joined a march across Mississippi to challenge a system that condoned violence against black people and suppressed their rights – issues still reverberating in today’s national debates about police violence.

The
March Against Fear in the summer of 1966 helped many find a voice to protest the injustices of the day, setting an example for contemporary movements such as Black Lives Matter.

The link between past and present was on the minds of participants in the march 50 years ago who recently told their stories to the Associated Press.

They say recent deadly encounters involving police show that Americans need to engage in honest dialogue about race – even if it’s uncomfortable for some people to acknowledge that black lives have long been devalued. They also lamented what they see as a lack of progress on many fronts.

“Literally nothing has changed,” says James Meredith, who launched the march. “That is not completely true. What has changed the so-called civil rights movement is completely at an end. It is over. . . . That’s why we have the crisis we have in the nation today.”

While Meredith declined to discuss specifics of the recent violence – which has included fatal shootings of black men by police and deadly attacks on officers – he and his contemporaries say much work still needs to be done.

The march started as a one-man journey by Meredith, four years after he integrated the University of Mississippi amid violent backlash. In June 1966, he wanted to show that a black man could walk through Mississippi without fear. He set out to walk more than 200 miles from Memphis, Tenn., to the Mississippi capital of Jackson.

But one day in, a white man shot and wounded Meredith. Activists including the Rev. Martin Luther King took up his cause and eventually rallied thousands of marchers.

Now 83, Meredith wants the black community to embrace education and mentorship as ways to “pay God back.”

“Citizenship is what the March Against Fear was about,” he says. “Citizenship. Not only rights and privileges are part of citizenship. Duty and responsibility are an equal part, and that’s the part the black race has failed to pay any attention to.”