Ruben Torres, Local 237 Executive Board Vice President, and in his capacity as Assistant Director on the Human Rights and Diversity Commission for the IBT, was in Selma, Alabama to mark the 60th anniversary — March 7, 1965 — of the fight for the right to vote denied to Blacks in that state. That day was known as “Bloody Sunday” because the peaceful protesters were met with violence by state troopers, deputies and men on horseback as they marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

Among those remembered was Viola Liuzzo, a white mother of five, was a civil rights activist who was murdered in 1965 after participating in the Selma to Montgomery march. She was the wife of a Teamsters Union organizer, Anthony “Jim” Liuzzo. On March 25, 1965, while driving marchers between Selma and Montgomery, Liuzzo was shot and killed by Klansmen, who were in a car with an FBI informant. Liuzzo's death shocked the nation, and her funeral was attended by prominent civil rights leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr. and Teamsters General President James R. Hoffa. Many believe her sacrifice helped push for the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.