LANDSLIDE LYNDON
The Bridge
African Americans marching for voting rights, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Jimmy Lee Jackson, Officer Fowler, Sheriff Clark, John Lewis, Governor George Wallace, LBJ.
Guest Singers:
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Tyneshia Hill
Daniel King
Sehri Alese
Abdul Khaliq
​
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(fake surprise)
LYRICS​
The African American people in Selma try to assert their right to vote, but are terrorized by Sheriff Clark and hordes of vigilante white supremacists. On March 7th, 1965, John Lewis and over 600 marchers set out to march the 54 miles between Selma and Montgomery Alabama, and are beaten as they try to cross the Edmund Pettus bridge. The cost in lives grows with each senseless murder. A second attempt is cancelled by Martin Luther King on March 9th, pausing instead for prayer, when he senses that there will be bloodshed again, but he turns to LBJ for help. On March 15th, LBJ takes advantage of the growing national sympathy for the plight of millions of disenfranchised African Americans and address the nation, pledging his commitment to the cause: “Their cause must be our cause too. Because it is not just Negros, but really it is all of us, who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice. And we shall overcome.” He then mobilizes the US army and nationalizes the Alabama state guard to protect the marchers when it becomes obvious that Governor Wallace cannot or will not protect them. MLK leads 2000 marchers for 4 days as they walk from Selma to Montgomery, where they are joined by 50,000 supporters. On March 17th, LBJ addresses a joint session of Congress and calls for a federal voting rights bill, which is passed into law the following August. It is a shining moment for the cause of civil rights, for John Lewis, for MLK, and for LBJ.
MLK:
A bridge lies before us
Seems so far away
We sing in a chorus
We walk and pray
Will no one else sing for us
today ?
(Spoken) Witness my sisters and my brothers
Marchers:
We’ll stand!
We’ll stand in line.
Don’t care how much time
It takes
We’ll stand here forever
Wanna pull
Wanna pull that lever.
Gotta vote.
Gotta vote!
(A sheriff runs in with a gun)
​
Marchers: (step back) Sheriff Clark!
​
Sheriff Clark:
Y’all can wait here all night long
Just not in a pack
And you can chant and sing your songs
But Stand in the back
Of the building
Don’t want to scare
The white children
Of Selma town.
Now settle down!
​
Marchers:
Wanna close that curtain
And know for certain
We have a voice
We Have a say.
Only From inside that booth
Can we stand up for the truth
And determine our tomorrows
Today.
Gotta vote!
MLK:
Hundreds Line up to register
But the workers start late
​
Sheriff and pole workers:
We take an hour per
person and a two hour break
​
Marchers:
But we don’t give up
And a few just make the cut
We persevere for our children’s sake
​
LBJ:
I support you Selma and your mission
(To an aide)
Let’s get this shit on television
​
Marchers:
Help us Governor Wallace
These troopers are upon us!
​
Wallace:
You want to stay safe, all right?
No more gatherings at night.
​
Marchers:
And while the governor’s speakin’
An innocent church deacon
Jimmy Lee Jackson marching in Marion
Meets Trooper Fowler
​
Jackson: Hey boy, is that a gun you carryin’?
​
Jimmy: No sir, Were just marchin’ and singin’.
​
Jackson: It’s chaos you’re bringing!
​
(Spoken) Now why is this negro woman looking at me like this?
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Jimmy: No- stay away from my mother.
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Viola Jackson: Jimmy no - run away!
​
(BAM!)
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Jimmy!!
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Marchers: (quietly)
And just like that
Jimmy Lee Jackson
Is dead.
​
MLK:
Mr. President
It’s evident
We need your voice
Our people must stay on this path
We have no choice
​
LBJ: Doctor King
I agree
But now everyone must see
The depths of this disgrace
And they must see it on TV
So find me that place
And we’ll win that race to be free
MLK: Selma, oh Selma
Is where it’s gonna be.
CHORUS
Marchers:
We’ll cross
Though the river runs so deep
We cross
Though they block us in the street
We cross
From the very edge of defeat
This cause - not lost
We cross
​
MLK: (Spoken) I couldn’t be there but her comes John Lewis.
John Lewis:
To the capital Montgomery we slowly Walk
Hand in hand, side by side
As the state troopers stalk
Us and as we cross that bridge
Named for General Edmund Pettus
At the county line
They come from behind
And get us.
Marchers:
Watch out!
They’re on that overpass!
They got Billy clubs and they’ve got tear gas!
(Chaotic rock music as the mob beats them on the bridge)
John Lewis:
600 beaten
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Marchers: But you’re not defeatin’ us
MLK: Just two days later we’re marching again.
LBJ:
But the courts step in
A restraining order’s been
Handed down
You can march through town
But When you get that bridge
MLK: we won’t cross that line
Cause we don’t want another blood bath this time
​
LBJ: Now Wallace don’t you let them..
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Wallace: Don’t worry sir
We’ll stop em
So the thugs won’t get them
​
(Turns to his men, speaks slowly and sinisterly)
​
Let them on the bridge my men
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MLK: (holding them back)
Something’s wrong
All along
I was told
On this road
they would stop us here
We’d make a statement
Against hate and
Then they’d block us
No one has to cross that bridge in fear
​
Where’s Governor Wallace?
Sheriff Clark and his mob will follow us
And we’ll be trapped on that bridge again
This time we might just be killed by his men
​
Lewis: Doctor King
We should fight this today!
​
MLK: We should fight this tomorrow
Right now we run away.
​
Marchers: And we do
But it won’t stop the violence so sinister
Some clansman that night
Kill James Reeb, a minister
From Boston
​
MLK: We watch as the cost in
Lives just grows
Will it all be worth it?!
Marchers: Nobody knows.
​
LBJ (on phone)
George you gotta protect them now!
​
Wallace:
Lyndon, I’m sleepin’
and I wouldn’t know how
To protect that horde
And I can’t afford
To call up the state national guard
​
LBJ:
Well guvna if you find it so hard
And you don’t wanna spend the money
To save your own people from murder
Then Starting tomorrow
Your national guard works for me!
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Wallace:
You can’t do that
That’s not right!
​
LBJ: I just fuckin’ did.
Now sleep tight.
(Slams phone)
​
CHORUS:
We cross
Though it might take a thousand years
We cross
Though we’re leaving a trail of tears
We cross
And when the other side appears
We accept the cost
We cross
This bridge
Well you can stop and hardly live or
You can cross the Jordan River
Until that promise is delivered
Finally
​
That bridge
These Alabama waters
Have seen the senseless slaughter
But now our sons and daughters
Climbing free
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Marchers: And we march for 5 days straight
And we sing and we demonstrate
​
MLK: And we try to wipe out the hate.
From every single state
​
LBJ: (at podium now)
Cause at times history and fate
Meet in one place to shape
Man’s unending search to be free
Lexington, Concord and Appomattox were three
Such places where shackles were broken in two
And now Selma, oh Selma is too.
​
All: Scenes of Selma’s cruelty
On every living room TV
​
MLK:
Finally get the sympathy
We needed
​
All: Suddenly with Alabama
People finally give a damn a
Cry for action’s made at last and heeded.
It’s our finest moment
Our finest hour
We gave the people back the power
To choose their leaders
Choose their laws
Lives were laid down for the cause
Side by side and hand in hand
We crossed that bridge to the promised land
And in our finest moment
Building the great society
LBJ: I built my legacy
It’s the one thing for which they’ll remember me.