''The more things change, the more they stay the same.''
That is the sad truth, according to some commentators reporting on the state of civil rights in the United States, as the country marks half a century since the 1965 Selma, Alabama, marches - the first of which became known as ''Bloody Sunday''.
That march, organised in part by the Martin Luther King Jr Southern Christian Leadership Conference, was supposed to be the first of three peaceful demonstrations for voting rights for millions of African-Americans.
The 600-odd demonstrators were to start in Selma and march to Montgomery, the state capital of Alabama, but were attacked by police and state troopers.
Many were wounded and there were deaths in the subsequent violence, including after a second march, known as ''Turnaround Tuesday''.
The third march, a couple of weeks later, was protected by authorities from the army and various agencies on the instructions of President Lyndon Johnson. An estimated 25,000 people finally arrived in Montgomery.
The combined events marked a turning point in the civil rights movement, and led to the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
Fifty years on from those events, and more than 50 years from Martin Luther King jun's memorable ''I have a dream'' speech, there is still much anger about the reality of everyday life for many African-Americans.
There is outrage in Madison, Wisconsin, after another apparently unarmed black teenager was killed by a white policeman at the weekend.
Last year's fatal shooting of black teenager Michael Brown by a white officer - and a grand jury's subsequent decision not to indict the officer - sparked riots in Ferguson, Missouri, and elsewhere.
Search, arrest, prison and police shooting statistics highlight the hugely unbalanced outcome for black Americans.
There is anger that a country that prides itself on freedom and equality, that inspired others around the world to challenge the status quo on their long walks to freedom, and that fights for the rights of many besieged groups beyond its borders, is failing some of its own.
And there is concern and criticism about the provisions of the Voting Rights Act, weakened by the Supreme Court and state legislatures, and by what President Barack Obama called ''partisan rancour'' in his powerful and emotive ''Bloody Sunday'' speech.
In his speech, Mr Obama categorically rejected the notion that nothing has changed for African-Americans in the past 50 years, saying much progress has been made.
Certainly, as the country's first black president, he is the dream made flesh, yet there is no doubt much of the optimism and popularity of his initial election has waned, and the dream has died for many.
In his speech, he did acknowledge the fight for equality was ongoing, and there is a need for constant vigilance, courage, vision, leadership and unity: ''What greater expression of faith in the American experiment than this; what greater form of patriotism is there; than the belief that America is not yet finished, that we are strong enough to be self-critical, that each successive generation can look upon our imperfections and decide that it is in our power to remake this nation to more closely align with our highest ideals?''
It's [the American instinct] the idea held by generations of citizens who believed that America is a constant work in progress; who believed that loving this country requires more than singing its praises or avoiding uncomfortable truths.
It requires the occasional disruption, the willingness to speak out for what's right and shake up the status quo.
''Fifty years from Bloody Sunday, our march is not yet finished. But we are getting closer. Two hundred and thirty-nine years after this nation's founding, our union is not yet perfect. But we are getting closer. Our job's easier because somebody already got us through that first mile. Somebody already got us over that bridge. When it feels the road's too hard, when the torch we've been passed feels too heavy, we will remember these early travellers, and draw strength from their example.''
Powerful rhetoric indeed - and words for all to live by.
