A Red Day In Selma: An Alternate History Of The Civil Rights Era And Cold War

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Chapter 1
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    • DrDerp

    This story is written with the permission of the Redditor who originally came up with this scenario, No Biscotti 711. Those of you who find the work in question that inspired this, please, no spoilers.

    Chapter 1: One Itchy Finger

    March 7th 1965

    Selma, Alabama

    The previous demonstrations and crackdowns throughout the South that occurred over the course of the past decade had taught the men and women looking at the armored state troopers expect the worst. And yet, they still hoped for the best. They'd all seen what the Freedom Riders had to contend with, the kind of reactions they elicited from hostile whites. Many of them were in Birmingham when the homes of Civil Rights activists were being blown up.

    That would not deter them. The world was watching. They wouldn't falter.

    They would make it to the other side of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, regardless of whether or not Sheriff Clark wanted them to or not.

    They disregarded the commands over the loudspeaker given by Trooper John Cloud, demanding that they turn back. When they didn't the troopers became even more tense.

    And then, history was made.

    A single shot rang out, echoing through the air. None of the marchers could see where the shot was aimed but within seconds, screams rang out when the target was found.

    A red wound blossomed on Dr King's chest. The reverend looked down at seemed to have difficulty understanding what had just happened. His expression was one of disbelief as his knees buckled and he fell.

    Then more shots were fired from the troopers, fearing that the marchers would charge them. Bullets whizzed into the crowd, with targets being chosen nearly at random.

    "Cease fire!" shouted one of the officers. "Cease fucking fire!" Some of the troopers took their fingers off the trigger, and they began to comprehend what had just happened.

    Dr. King lay dead. John Lewis lay dead. So did Jayce Lee, Horsea Williams and others. Members of the crowd hauled their bodies off in the stampede away from the State Troopers, evading the men on horseback. Sheriff Clark ordered some of his men to pursue the crowd and arrest whoever they could and some did run forward, trying to beat whoever was closest so they could be cuffed and dragged off.

    Two minutes later, the marchers were streaming back into Selma, spreading the news that Doctor King was dead.

    The whole scene played out in front of a national audience. Tens of millions of Americans stared at their television screens in shock. This wasn't a crackdown they'd just witnessed. This wasn't just police brutality.

    This was a slaughter. Word would reach the rest of the world in hours. Those watching the events unfolding in their homes didn't know what would come next, but there would be no going back. Not from this.
     
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    • Chapter 2
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    • DrDerp

    Chapter 2: I'm Not Happy, George

    Two hours later,

    Montgomery, Alabama

    While some in the Alabama State Capital expressed subtle or less than subtle satisfaction with what happened on the bridge, the atmosphere was still incredibly tense. The city's police department were preparing for widespread unrest in the wake of Doctor King's death, or at least that's what the chief of police wanted them to think. Governor Wallace was on the phone with one of the Alabama National Guard's commanders when his secretary walked in, sweating bullets.

    "What is it, Eileen?" George Wallace asked gruffly.

    "S-sir? The president wants to talk to you." Governor Wallace grit his teeth and gave a quick goodbye to the commander he was talking to and then heard a slight clicking noise from the phone.

    "Mister President, what can-"

    "George, you can cut the crap right now," President Johnson replied flatly. "You've made a real big mess and the whole goddamn public saw it happen."

    "Our men were defending themselves, sir. One of them got spooked, I'll admit. But they needed to prevent a full on charge. Who knows what could've happened if those rabble rousers got too close."

    "King's lot didn't try attacking your troopers before, George. Though I'm not sure they're going to be as cordial as they usually are given what that idiot did."

    George gave a terse smile.

    "Sir, is there anything I can do to help your mood?"

    "You can start by serving me Sheriff Clark's head on a plate. And I want to know who fired that first shot. It shouldn't be too hard to find out."

    "Will that be all, mister president?"

    "I've no godly idea. Don't you know what what's just happened this morning?" George rolled his eyes.

    "Sir, please. We've put on the kind of show of force we've needed to for the past few years. Without the good reverend and his fellows, his group will fall apart. My men have done a great service today!" There was a hollow, joyless laugh coming from the president.

    "Oh, you've done a fucking service alright. I'd wager half the White House china that the pictures will be in Pravda tomorrow morning. Not just the Post, not just the New York Times or even the Times of London. Moscow's going to milk this for all it's worth and I have you to thank for that."

    Before George could reply, the line went dead. He put the receiver down and felt himself start to shiver. He'd been on the receiving end of the president's ire before but this made him feel like he had ice water dunked on him.

    What was coming his way? What was going to come out of the Pandora's box he believed had been opened?
     
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  • Index
    • Chapter 3
  • Index

    • DrDerp

    Chapter 3: Face The Nation

    The evening that Doctor King was killed, the American public was treated to the sight of President Johnson displaying an eerily calm demeanor in a broadcast from the Oval Office. Though his voice didn't betray any anger, his body language gave away a simmering rage.

    "My fellow Americans, what was witnessed in Selma today is a black mark on our nation's history that will never fade. We have witnessed an icon for peace gunned down alongside many of those who marched beside him. I have been informed that Doctor King's remains are being transferred to the custody of his family as we speak under the guard of federal agents. I have given Doctor King's family my personal condolences as have Vice President Humphrey. A man's wife and children have watched him be gunned down on live television. To give even the faintest estimate of the effect such an experience can have is beyond me. I have also spoken with Governor Wallace who assures me that the men responsible will be found and charged. However, punishing them will do next to nothing to repair the damage that has been done this day.

    An opportunity to display our nation's willingness to respect human dignity has been squandered. In a blind panic, officers of the Alabama National Guard opened fire on unarmed civilians. There is no doubt in mind that word of what has taken place in Selma will have already circled the globe. What many have once thought to be a southern peculiarity, a southern problem has now been shown to be an American problem. There is no doubt in my mind that what has happened will greatly complicate our efforts to forge and strengthen relations with nations that have recently overcome colonial rule. Our credibility has been threatened and our enemies will waste no time in pushing the narrative that we have no right to expect other countries to respect the concept of universal human rights.

    While I know that this will not heal even half the damage that has been wrought, I wish to inform the American public that legislation to protect the voting rights of every citizen is being drawn up and it is my intention to ensure that not just it but similar pieces of legislation are passed into law. This will ensure that the Civil Rights Acts of the past few years are able to ensure sweeping protections from discrimination on the basis of color, ethnicity or creed. And I will be in Montgomery in on week's time to ensure that Governor Wallace is under no illusions about what reforms are underway, as well as any other governors in Dixie who believe they can twist legal jargon to ensure the disenfranchisement of large proportions of the people in their states. I will not relent. I will not budge. There is too much at stake for our country for any such thing to be done. Thank you, and God bless the United States."

    President Johnson wasn't quite as personable as his predecessor but regardless of political leaning his audience was shocked at what they saw. He radiated more than just frustration and grief at what took place in Selma. He seemed to be struggling to hold back an apoplectic rage. What happened that morning made an already tremendously stressful job even worse and he was going to let that fact be known to the American people.
     
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    • JustinTexas

    DrDerp said:
    Chapter 3: Face The Nation

    The evening that Doctor King was killed, the American public was treated to the sight of President Johnson displaying an eerily calm demeanor in a broadcast from the Oval Office. Though his voice didn't betray any anger, his body language gave away a simmering rage.

    "My fellow Americans, what was witnessed in Selma today is a black mark on our nation's history that will never fade. We have witnessed an icon for peace gunned down alongside many of those who marched beside him. I have been informed that Doctor King's remains are being transferred to the custody of his family as we speak under the guard of federal agents. I have given Doctor King's family my personal condolences as have Vice President Humphrey. A man's wife and children have watched him be gunned down on live television. To give even the faintest estimate of the effect such an experience can have is beyond me. I have also spoken with Governor Wallace who assures me that the men responsible will be found and charged. However, punishing them will do next to nothing to repair the damage that has been done this day.

    An opportunity to display our nation's willingness to respect human dignity has been squandered. In a blind panic, officers of the Alabama National Guard opened fire on unarmed civilians. There is no doubt in mind that word of what has taken place in Selma will have already circled the globe. What many have once thought to be a southern peculiarity, a southern problem has now been shown to be an American problem. There is no doubt in my mind that what has happened will greatly complicate our efforts to forge and strengthen relations with nations that have recently overcome colonial rule. Our credibility has been threatened and our enemies will waste no time in pushing the narrative that we have no right to expect other countries to respect the concept of universal human rights.

    While I know that this will not heal even half the damage that has been wrought, I wish to inform the American public that legislation to protect the voting rights of every citizen is being drawn up and it is my intention to ensure that not just it but similar pieces of legislation are passed into law. This will ensure that the Civil Rights Acts of the past few years are able to ensure sweeping protections from discrimination on the basis of color, ethnicity or creed. And I will be in Montgomery in on week's time to ensure that Governor Wallace is under no illusions about what reforms are underway, as well as any other governors in Dixie who believe they can twist legal jargon to ensure the disenfranchisement of large proportions of the people in their states. I will not relent. I will not budge. There is too much at stake for our country for any such thing to be done. Thank you, and God bless the United States."

    President Johnson wasn't quite as personable as his predecessor but regardless of political leaning his audience was shocked at what they saw. He radiated more than just frustration and grief at what took place in Selma. He seemed to be struggling to hold back an apoplectic rage. What happened that morning made an already tremendously stressful job even worse and he was going to let that fact be known to the American people.
    Click to expand...
    Hope the sheriff dies like the coward he is! Love this story!
     
    Chapter 4
  • Index

    • DrDerp

    Chapter 4: Word Spreads Quick

    President Johnson's statement that the whole world would know of what took place in Alabama by the end of the day was not hyperbole. British and Canadian correspondents broke the news within hours. The photo of Doctor King's body being carried away while marchers were pursued by officers on horseback was on the front page of the Times of London. The BBC world service broke the news to the UK public at large. French and West German outlets picked up on the story as well. The international press had gotten wind of the murders that had taken place in Selma.

    The press of the communist states had a field day with the story. In Moscow, Beijing, Pyongyang, Hanoi, Warsaw and East Berlin, the event was given breakdowns multiple pages long and discussion panels postulated endlessly on what might come of President Johnson's visit. The KGB and Soviet foreign ministry realized that Doctor King's murder could be a tremendously powerful propaganda tool when it came to eliciting the support of anti-colonialist groups in the Third World. On the personal orders of KGB Chairman Semichastny, Pravda used the same picture the Times of London did. The image also appeared in leaflets scattered in West Berlin by the East German government. Soldiers of the Berlin Brigade were treated to the picture of the civil rights leader's body along with just two words in English: "defend this."

    The news media in neutral countries didn't take such an malicious approach to disseminating the story but their coverage was no less damning. Indira Gandhi addressed the Indian public in a national address, saying that what took place in Selma did a great deal of damage to America's credibility with nations that sought positive relationships with both the US and Soviets. She pointed out that the legislation being considered was a step in the right direction, but there needed to be severe enough consequences that those who sought to uphold segregation understood that they were trying to halt the movement of history. Indira concluded by referencing Harold Macmillan's speech in South Africa on the eve of the Sharpville Massacre, alluding to a wind of change that would bend or break those who sought to preserve systems build on racial injustice.

    The governments of Rhodesia and South Africa were somewhat quiet in the face of the march in Selma. While the leadership of both countries approved of how the 'rabble rousers' were driven off, they were in awkward positions in regards to international relationships. White supremacist groups in the US openly celebrated King's demise and hoped that the Civil Rights Movement would be intimidated into slowly becoming less active. Different Ku Klux Klan branches began planning potential follow up attacks on leaders in the movement in hopes of causing it to fall into confusion and infighting.

    But the Klan's decentralized nature prevented the dissemination of a list of priority targets, and that very organizational structure would have disastrous results for it in the days to come.
     
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    • DrDerp

    peeter said:
    I’m gonna be honest I feel like I’ve seen this story on this site before
    Click to expand...
    I did find a timeline with a similar POD after seeing this comment. Didn't know it was here until now. I can promise you though, what I'm planning is quite different from that timeline.
     
    Chapter 5
  • Index

    • DrDerp

    Chapter 5: Not Again

    Selma, Alabama

    President Johnson took a drink of water from the glass handed to him by an aid. He'd be addressing a crowd of Selma's citizens in a few minutes, both white and black as per his instructions. Representatives of the press would be broadcasting his speech on TV and radio.

    He would be meeting with George Wallace that evening as part of a tour across the South. He hoped that being seen thing a tough stance against segregation would help prevent the protests that ensued in the wake of King's death from getting out of control. There were already vigils in Atlanta outside Ebenezer Baptist Church which local police attempted to break up. The Little Rock Nine were trying to encourage similar shows of discontent in Arkansas. There were murmurings of demonstrations in Texas as well, with protesters planning to take buses from Forth Worth to Mansfield to protest the persistence of segregation in the school district.

    He'd gotten confirmation that Sheriff Clark was dishonorably discharged on the order of Governor Wallace and the identities of some of the troopers who fired on King's marchers were also discovered.

    Johnson stepped out in front of the crowd gathered in front of Selma's city hall. There was a great deal of murmuring and camera flashes once he reached the podium.

    "Thank you all for coming," Johnson told the crowd. "What occurred on the Edmund Pettus Bridge was an undeniable display of the brutality with which Jim Crow is enforced. America had been humiliated in front of the whole world. The credibility we earned during the hard years of the Second World War is at stake. Our ability to call ourselves a force for good is threatened. In this changing world the preservation of a race based power structure will only lead to more and more embarrassment. It will hold us back more and more as all other nations calling themselves 'civilized' move further away from such an ou-"

    Some of the people in front of him began to shout. A man in a beige shirt stepped forward from the crowd, glaring angrily at Johnson. He only got a brief look at it but he couldn't mistake the object in his hand for a second.

    It was a pistol.

    Before Johnson could get out the way, it fired, and he felt something punch into his chest. The barrel of the gun lit up again and again. The crowd was a chorus of screams as he fell to the ground.

    As the world around him seemed to fade out, he heard the man shout something as he was forced to kneel by both members of the crowd and security staff.

    "Dixie won't be betrayed!"

    Johnson was taken away by his bodyguards who were demanding that a doctor be brought to the scene. The shooter was dragged away and the crowd dispersed. All across the nation, people were rooted to their TV sets and radios.

    It was one thing to watch King be gunned down. But this was like that dark day in Dallas all over again. For the second time in not even five years, the president was shot. And by nightfall, the public turned on the news to see a shaken Walter Cronkite.

    "Ladies and gentlemen, Americans one and all, I...I...I have been informed that President Johnson has passed away." The newscaster took a shuddering breath.

    "God help me, I can't...I still haven't recovered from...I prayed that I'd never have to break a story like this after Kennedy. I'm sorry about my composure. P-police have identified the shooter as one Thomas Blanton Jr.. An investigation is under-underway. I will provide further updates as they appear."
     
  • Index

    • WorthyofthePower

    DrDerp said:
    Chapter 5: Not Again

    Selma, Alabama

    President Johnson took a drink of water from the glass handed to him by an aid. He'd be addressing a crowd of Selma's citizens in a few minutes, both white and black as per his instructions. Representatives of the press would be broadcasting his speech on TV and radio.

    He would be meeting with George Wallace that evening as part of a tour across the South. He hoped that being seen thing a tough stance against segregation would help prevent the protests that ensued in the wake of King's death from getting out of control. There were already vigils in Atlanta outside Ebenezer Baptist Church which local police attempted to break up. The Little Rock Nine were trying to encourage similar shows of discontent in Arkansas. There were murmurings of demonstrations in Texas as well, with protesters planning to take buses from Forth Worth to Mansfield to protest the persistence of segregation in the school district.

    He'd gotten confirmation that Sheriff Clark was dishonorably discharged on the order of Governor Wallace and the identities of some of the troopers who fired on King's marchers were also discovered.

    Johnson stepped out in front of the crowd gathered in front of Selma's city hall. There was a great deal of murmuring and camera flashes once he reached the podium.

    "Thank you all for coming," Johnson told the crowd. "What occurred on the Edmund Pettus Bridge was an undeniable display of the brutality with which Jim Crow is enforced. America had been humiliated in front of the whole world. The credibility we earned during the hard years of the Second World War is at stake. Our ability to call ourselves a force for good is threatened. In this changing world the preservation of a race based power structure will only lead to more and more embarrassment. It will hold us back more and more as all other nations calling themselves 'civilized' move further away from such an ou-"

    Some of the people in front of him began to shout. A man in a beige shirt stepped forward from the crowd, glaring angrily at Johnson. He only got a brief look at it but he couldn't mistake the object in his hand for a second.

    It was a pistol.

    Before Johnson could get out the way, it fired, and he felt something punch into his chest. The barrel of the gun lit up again and again. The crowd was a chorus of screams as he fell to the ground.

    As the world around him seemed to fade out, he heard the man shout something as he was forced to kneel by both members of the crowd and security staff.

    "Dixie won't be betrayed!"

    Johnson was taken away by his bodyguards who were demanding that a doctor be brought to the scene. The shooter was dragged away and the crowd dispersed. All across the nation, people were rooted to their TV sets and radios.

    It was one thing to watch King be gunned down. But this was like that dark day in Dallas all over again. For the second time in not even five years, the president was shot. And by nightfall, the public turned on the news to see a shaken Walter Cronkite.

    "Ladies and gentlemen, Americans one and all, I...I...I have been informed that President Johnson has passed away." The newscaster took a shuddering breath.

    "God help me, I can't...I still haven't recovered from...I prayed that I'd never have to break a story like this after Kennedy. I'm sorry about my composure. P-police have identified the shooter as one Thomas Blanton Jr.. An investigation is under-underway. I will provide further updates as they appear."
    Click to expand...
    well with lbj dead texas will demand vengeance
     

    HonestAbe1809

    The white supremacists killed MLK and now they killed the President. They effed up not once, but twice! Hopefully President Humphrey will make them pay dearly for it!

    If Wallace is smart he's going to denounce what Blanton did. And if he doesn't his political career is basically dead.
     
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